Queensland Maroons coach Billy Slater has explained his trek to the sideline during the first half of Game 1 in the 2024 State of Origin series.
Slater, a former champion fullback himself, was seen moving to the sideline during the first half to speak with Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow shortly after he moved to the back following Reece Walsh's concussion.
The Dolphins' star scored a hat-trick during the game, and Slater revealed him walking to the sideline from the coaches box had been discussed pre-game if it was needed.
"To be honest, I actually walked up to the box from the sideline yesterday in the captain's run, and I thought to myself if that's needed, that's what I'm going to do. We actually had a talk about that today [Wednesday] as a staff, and when Hammer got thrown back to fullback, I thought I could help him with a few things just having a face-to-face conversation. You can't plan for everything, but that's one thing that I felt was beneficial to the team, beneficial to Hammer and I just felt it at the time so I did it," Slater said during the post-match press conference.
Slater paid credit to Tabuai-Fidow's performance at fullback after he had trained to play at centre during the week.
"He [Tabuai-Fidow] did a great job under the high ball positionally. Not just scoring three tries, but he probably saved just as many. Getting underneath Spencer Leniu, that's not easy and I think he held up James Tedesco there at one stage. He did a wonderful job to adjust to a different position. I know he plays there every week and that's a great luxury, but I thought he was super," Slater said.
Queensland are no strangers to adapting to injuries in the backs, and their recent years of injury issues led to Slater naming Selwyn Cobbo on the bench for Game 1 of this year's series.
Slater said tonight was no different even with the back-up option on the pine.
"I thought the team has adapted to adversity the last three years. You think back to last year in Adelaide, we had both of our wingers go off the field, we had centres playing on the wing, we had Dave Fifita and Ben Hunt playing in the centres. The team has been accustomed to adapt to adversity and that's no different to tonight," Slater said.
"I thought Hammer was great slipping back into that fullback position. Felise Kaufisi did a great job coming onto the field. Selwyn too. Hindsight is a great thing, but it worked out in our favour.
"That's his position. He plays there weekly. He was prepared to play there and we prepared for the unexpected, and the unexpected happened."
Meanwhile, Slater revealed Walsh, who was taken out of the game with Grade 1 concussion symptoms but passed his test off the field, was "okay" in the dressing rooms.
"He seems to be okay now. He didn't look too good on the field obviously, but he seems to be okay in the sheds," Slater said on Walsh.
Slater, who refused to answer questions on the high shot or send off for Joseph Suaalii, was visibly shaken when on a live cross with Channel 9 during the game after the high shot.
Queensland will now take a 1-0 Origin lead to Melborne for Game 2, with a potential decider in Brisbane.
