Cleary and Daley are copping the brunt of the criticism after NSW’s loss in State of Origin.
Nathan Cleary has made a staggering confession that doubters were right to question his ability to lift NSW to a State of Origin series triumph, after the halfback came up short in another decider. And league greats Andrew Johns and Phil Gould have applied the blowtorch to Laurie Daley and the game-plan used on Wednesday night.
Queensland won 24-12 at Accor Stadium in Sydney, coming back to steal the series after losing Game 1 at home. For Cleary, it was another loss in a decider that adds to an unwanted record for the Penrith Panthers superstar.
As his unheralded opposite number Tom Dearden ran riot in a man-of-the-match performance, Cleary struggled to pull the Blues into the contest and found himself under pressure all night. Wednesday night’s game marked Cleary’s 17th as NSW halfback, taking him past Johns and Mitchell Pearce for the most for the Blues.
But Cleary now holds a losing record of 8-9 in his 17 Origin matches, and has lost five of his last seven. He guided NSW to series wins in 2018 and 2021, but both of those came in two games. He’s now lost both of the Game 3 deciders he’s played in.
Nathan Cleary’s brutal post-match confession
Speaking on Channel 9 after the game, a devastated Cleary admitted his doubters were right. “At the end of the day, I haven’t (delivered),” the 27-year-old said. “I’m the harshest marker of myself anyway so I don’t really think that what other people say is out of line because I probably think that of myself anyway.
At the end of the day, you just feel like you’ve let down the boys that you play with and the state obviously. That’s what hurts the most. I let down myself and my own high standards. It’s frustrating.”
Andrew Johns and Phil Gould scathing of NSW
Cleary and coach Daley copped the most criticism on social media after the game, with many questioning why NSW officials brought Daley back in the first place. The Canberra Raiders legend has now lost five of the six series he’s been in charge of the Blues.
Speaking on Channel 9 in the post-game coverage, Gould and Johns were both highly critical of the Blues’ game-plan and their failure to adapt on the fly. “Naturally, people will start looking at personnel, but I think it comes down to attitude and the style of football. It really comes down to that,” Gould said.
“I just don’t think that they came here with an Origin mindset tonight and were virtually outmuscled and outworked and out Origin’d by a Queensland side that were very committed and very together. There’s plenty of talent in the NSW side, but talent is not enough and never has been enough at this level. It just seemed that they weren’t prepared for what they got and that’s a disappointing thing.”
Johns said the Blues needed to devise a plan to counter Queensland’s rushing defence, but failed to change their initial plan. “It was all that sort of system-based attack where you get to a point for a set play,” Johns said. “They rushed from the outside, especially Queensland’s right side defence.
.. There was no Plan B and when you’re out on the field at this level there has to be a Plan B, a Plan C, if the game plan isn’t coming off you need to change on the run. I just thought, we were too structured in stages, especially when we were going to our left, the right side defence just rushed and we just had had no Plan B. It’d be heartbreaking for Laurie Daley but Queensland were way too good, way too good.”
Plenty of questions are being asked of Daley, and whether he’s the right man for the job. He declared in his post-match press conference that he’s 100 per cent committed to the cause for next year and wants to return, but the comments from Gould and Johns should raise huge concerns..
