Former Maroons flyer on the "dangerous" Walsh and Ponga pairing

The star fullback who played Origin alongside the current Queensland Maroons coach has compared the combination of Reece Walsh and Kalyn Ponga to that of him and Billy Slater when they terrorised the New South Wales defence of yesteryear.

North Queensland Cowboys legend Matty Bowen played 10 Origins for Queensland – mostly coming off the bench to line up with Slater – just like Ponga will at Suncorp Stadium for the series decider next week.

Bowen said playing two fullbacks at the same time could cause nightmares for the Blues.

“Going back to when Billy and I were playing, either Bill was fullback or I was fullback, sort of playing that similar role, you play in the middle as that extra fullback, floating fullback,” he said on Mornings SENQ.

“It can work well and it can work against you.

“In attack it can be potent and hopefully it works from us next week.”

Bowen also believed Slater would use Ponga in a similar way to the role he played when he came off the bench for his debut in 2018.

“Everyone thought he was going to get found out, he’ll probably play a similar role,” he said.

“Imagine having two fullbacks in Reece Walsh and KP on one side, it doesn’t matter which side you go you got them two coming off the back of sweeping lines and they can throw those cut out passes and can throw that right foot or left foot step.

“It’s going to be dangerous.

“It depends on what time of the game Bill needs him, I thought it was the right decision.”

Ponga returns to the Maroons line-up for the first time since the decider in 2022.