Snubbed Billy is still in Mal’s good books

BILLY Slater may have played his last State of Origin match but he may yet rise again in the green and gold.

Australian coach Mal Meninga has not written off Slater’s chances of playing in the endof-season World Cup despite his omission from next week’s Origin game.

“He is still a chance of playing for Queensland again, so he is certainly a chance of playing for Australia,’’ Meninga said.

“We pick 24 players in the World Cup and there will be two fullbacks.’’

Darius Boyd is the Test incumbent and likely to hold his place and the highly rated New South Welshman James Tedesco would also be in strong contention.

But if the Melbourne Storm went deep into the NRL finals and Slater was in red-hot form he would be a hard man to leave out.

Meninga did not choose Slater for the recent Test against New Zealand nor for the first State of Origin match chosen for Fox Sports’ Queenslanders Only program.

But his form is being monitored closely. The one-off midseason Test against the Kiwis was seen as a loyalty exercise but after a full season of NRL the landscape could change.

Slater remains uncertain of whether he will play on next season, so, if he is chosen in the World Cup squad, it could be his career swan song.

Should he be chosen in the Cup, it would give him the chance to balance the ledger after his late wild pass in the 2008 Cup final in Brisbane against New Zealand allowed the Kiwis to sneak home.

This year’s final is also at Suncorp Stadium.