CHANGE is coming to the ageing Maroons squad but new coach Kevin Walters insists 'generation next' has been identified and is ready to  take up the baton.

Greats such as Billy Slater, Cooper Cronk, Johnathan Thurston and Cameron Smith are coming to the end of their Origin careers but Ipswich legend Walters will have most of them on board for the majority of his three-year tenure.

Results are still king, but history has shown the Queenslanders are master change agents.

"Those guys you mentioned have been 10-year players for Queensland and I'm very excited that I am in the position to transition players in and out of the side," Walters said.

"It is wonderful what they have done and the legacy they are going to leave behind, so it is up to those boys coming through to take up the baton and run with it.

"Origin is about winning first and foremost.

"That is what every Queenslander wants, and I am no different to any other Queenslander.

"But Mal (Meninga) had already started a transition period for the team over the last five or six years.

"Blokes like Nate Myles have stepped up for Petero Civoniceva, Matt Scott for Steve Price and Cooper Cronk for Darren Lockyer.

"But we have eight guys over 30 in the current Origin side so obviously we have an eye on the future, which is the idea of the emerging Origin camps.

"Mal brought 18th, 19th and 20th men into camp and apart from playing Origin that is the next best thing you can do to get players used to that environment."

The Maroons have eight players - Dylan Napa, Ben Hunt, Anthony Milford, Jarrod Wallace, Edrick Lee, Chris Grevsmuhl, Cameron Munster and Valentine Holmes - under Origin suspension until 2017 but it won't impact what they do long term.

Walters has plenty of choice when he casts an eye to the future to determine who will inherit the Cronk-Thurston partnership.

Michael Morgan, Daly Cherry-Evans, Ben Hunt and Anthony Milford are obvious long term replacements but Bulldogs half Moses Mbye has also impressed.

"It is exciting for Queensland to have many good young players in those positions coming through," Walters said.

"We haven't got as much depth as NSW but we have got some depth to choose from.

"There are three or four really good hookers coming through for whenever Cameron Smith decides he has had enough.

"There's Andrew McCullough, Jake Granville, Jake Friend and James Segeyaro.

"We have some good front-rowers coming through too in Josh Papalii, Josh McGuire, Dylan Napa and Joe Ofahengaue."

In-form Cronulla fullback Ben Barba has emerged as a possible candidate to replace the injured Slater this year,, although in-form Bronco caretaker Darius Boyd is a certainty to play in the number one jersey in Game One with Greg Inglis slated for the centres.

"With his form, Ben is doing all the right things," Walters said.

"So we do have some options there."

"We have lost two 10-year players in Slater and Justin Hodges and I'm not underestimating the importance of not having those two.

"It is bigger than people think because both of them have been so dominant in their positions for the past 10 years at Origin level that you just can't replace them overnight. It is going to take time."

With Storm centre Will Chambers also out of action this year with injury, the outstanding form of wingers Corey Oates and Kyle Feldt has made selectors jobs easier in filling the vacant outside backs positions.

Cowboys centre Justin O'Neill is also well in contention.

"We have some good options there," Walters said.