Daley has indicated he will grant Gallen an Origin send-off at ANZ Stadium, which would rule the 34-year-old out of the table-topping Sharks’ clash with Penrith just three days earlier.
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“No one can ever question our effort over this period of 11 years”.
“NSW hasn’t cultivated that person and they have had to live in the shadow of the leadership we have got and the leadership has been very selfish and very domineering and it hasn’t had the chance to grow”.
“It’s really pleasing to be able to wrap it up in two games, especially here at home”.
One thing Game 1 did suggest is that the gap is a little narrower than it was in the final game of the 2015 edition. “I made a point of bringing up that performance previous year at the start of this camp and making sure that we don’t make that mistake twice”, Smith said.
Perhaps the most brutal barb fired at NSW came from one of their own when Blues great Mark Geyer called for selectors to usher in the next generation of NSW players and end captain Paul Gallen’s Origin career immediately.
At risk of being dragged to the Tweed and tossed over the border, I think it’s time we just stopped winning.
The mobile Queensland pack lifted in the absence of leader Nate Myles (knee) against the monster NSW forwards, laying the platform for the four tries to two win. But Queensland will be buoyed by their gritty win in Sydney, and in front of a crowd that expects victories, they will turn on the style to clinch the series.
“It feels shithouse”, NSW prop Aaron Woods said.
The Maroons jumped to a 16-4 lead when Gagai crossed for his second in the 47th minute off a one hand Darius Boyd pass.
But Parish indicated they already plan to give Bird more game time in Brisbane.
In the 63rd minute the hosts extended their advantage, Johnathan Thurston putting an inch-perfect grubber into the corner for Gagai to bring up his hat-trick, the first for a Queenslander since Matt Sing in 2003.
Down 20-16 in the 70th minute, Blues rookie Tyson Frizell nearly kept the series alive when he grounded a James Maloney grubber, only for the bunker to detect a slight Michel Jennings knock-on in the lead-up.
Maroons backrower Sam Thaiday was placed on report for a 13th minute lifting tackle on Gallen.
And with South Sydney halfback Adam Reynolds likely to miss game three with a shoulder injury, Flanagan said Bird could do a job from the start in the halves.
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Bennett, who took over for a third stint as Maroons coach following the 2000 disaster, says the foundations for Queensland’s decade of domination were established after that series.
