Canterbury Bulldogs GM of Football and former NSW Blues coach Phil Gould has called upon Billy Slater to make a key change to his spine as Queensland look to extend the 2025 State of Origin series as they head into Game 2.
After a disappointing performance in the opening match of the series, Queensland are bound to make at least some changes as they head to Perth and look to not lose the series in back-to-back years to the NSW Blues.
Weeks away from the squads being announced for the next clash between the two states, Phil Gould has urged Billy Slater to select dummy-half Reed Mahoney in the team, which would see Harry Grant move to the interchange bench - where he is most effective.
Gould also floated the idea of including Parramatta Eels lock J'maine Hopgood and Dolphins utility forward Max Plath, both of whom were in the mix for Game 1 before being overlooked.
"Harry Grant, his best performances with Queensland have been coming off the bench," Gould said on Wide World of Sports' Six Tackles with Gus.
"Dearden came on and showed some flash but can he be out there for the first 25 minutes and make 20 tackles when they keep running at him with the ball and still be able to give that bit of flare?
"I think if I was Queensland, I don't think Ben Hunt is going to be available so I would be looking to a Reed Mahoney to start the game for them, to get them into the game and do a lot of the hack work early.
"He has a kicking game which could be advantageous and he has a running game, he can roll the forwards and get them going.
"He is a busy, eager defender and puts a lot of pressure on other players. Then you would have Harry to come on fresh, that would be the first thing that I'm think of [to change]."
