Following Queensland’s impressive 16-10 defeat of New South Wales in Origin I, rookie coach Billy Slater has been tipped to be the next mentor of the powerful Melbourne Storm.
The former player taunted the Blues throughout his playing career and has taken little time to do the same while at the helm of the Maroons.
With legends of the game including Cameron Smith and Jonathan Thurston alongside him in the coaching ranks, Slater got his career in the box off to a winning start.
SEN’s Matty Johns believes the legendary Storm player may return to his former side if his coaching career gains momentum in the future, and has tipped him as master coach Craig Bellamy's successor when the latter decides to part ways with the club.
“I spoke to (Maroons hooker Harry Grant) this afternoon, and I said, ‘What was it like in camp?’, and he said, ‘It was just fantastic,” Johns said on SEN 1170's The Run Home.
“He said Billy was just so good tactically, but he said the whole mood in the camp was brilliant.
“He said it was just a really, really great camp (and) that they went into the game with huge confidence that they’d win.”
“With all of these coaches being sacked … I mean even by rugby league standards there’s been a lot of blood on the tracks the last three weeks … you can’t tell me that Slater at the end of this series won’t be in high demand.
“Look, I think without a shadow of a doubt, if he wants to, and I think he would, he’ll be the next coach of Melbourne. I think he’ll replace Craig Bellamy.”
Slater played 323 games for the Melbourne Storm between 2003 and 2018, winning two premierships and amassing 190 tries, the second most of any first-grade NRL player in history.
He will look to lead Queensland to his first series victory as coach when the two sides square up again for Origin II at Perth’s Optus Stadium on June 26.