Standards and habits are a catchcry of Billy Slater who said Queensland have learnt their lessons from their Game Two loss and won’t be found wanting when they take to the field in the decider.
Slater – now in his third series in charge – has arguably never experienced as much pressure as a coach given the way Queensland fell to a record first-half deficit at the MCG. However, while the Maroons mentor admitted his side were outplayed by the Blues who were “the better football team” that night, he said he and the players had addressed their deficiencies and were ready to make amends.
“It's a collective, it's a 17-man team game and everyone's got to do their job and we all missed our mark down in Melbourne,” Slater said.
“We understand that and we need to rise to the occasion. New South Wales were great, their standard of football was far superior to us down in Melbourne.
"Like the team, made mistakes in Game Two as well throughout the preparation and I've learnt from that ...
“You're not measured off one performance; that's first and foremost. We've earnt the opportunity to have a second crack at it.
“The boys played great in the first game and we weren't up to scratch in the second game.
“We've earned the opportunity to play in the decider and there's no more second chances for both teams.
“Both teams will be looking to play their best footy and that's what we're doing.
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“At the end of the day, the best footy team won the game in Game One, the best footy team won the game in Game Two, the best footy team will win the game in Game Three.
“We need to get our footy on early. We missed that in Game Two and we saw in Game One how hard it is to play fatigued.
“We saw in Game Two for us how when you're tired and you don't have the football, we had 30 percent of the football in the first half.
“Our discipline wasn't up to scratch. The penalty count was six nil after 30 minutes.
“You give the opposition that at this level and you're going to be fatigued and it's a tough enough game to play without fatigue, so we need to get our footy on early.”
One trump card Slater has in his pack is the inclusion of Newcastle Knights star fullback Kalyn Ponga, who he has named on the bench.
Tipped to replicate the role he played in his 2018 debut where he roved around the middle of the field, Slater backed Ponga to fill in wherever needed – and to form a creative combination with fullback Reece Walsh.
“I just think you get him out on the field, it doesn't matter what position he's played, he's trained in multiple positions throughout this preparation,” Slater said when asked about how to get Ponga into the game.
“We saw his professional professionalism and the maturity of him when he came back against Canberra on Sunday; I thought he was great after a long period of time off with a with a foot injury.
“(Ponga and Walsh have) paved their own way over the last couple of years and both of those guys have been involved in the last couple of years.
“Kalyn was extremely influential in 2022 and Reece has been in the last couple of years.
“I said at the start of the year that I'm sure at some stage they'd love to be teammates and now they get the chance to be teammates.
“Kalyn’s trained in multiple positions on the field at in training and what a luxury to have, to have Kalyn Ponga sitting on the bench where you can put him on anywhere you want.
“He'll find himself on the field at some stage and he'll be playing his role for the team, but he'll be playing his role as Kalyn Ponga and we want to see the best Kalyn Ponga there as possible.”
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