James Maloney has taken exception to Andrew Johns’ scathing verdict that NSW played dumb football and failed to target a visibly injured Johnathan Thurston in the second half of Wednesday night’s State of Origin II loss.
Veteran five-eighth Maloney admits the Blues lost their way in the extraordinary fade-out against Queensland and only hoped it would drive them to overturn more than a decade of series-decider misery at Suncorp Stadium next month.
Johns let rip after the 18-16 loss, blasting “the dumbest half of football NSW have played” that blew a deserved 16-6 halftime lead at ANZ Stadium.
“I wouldn’t say dumb footy,” Maloney countered on Thursday.
“I think we lost our way and probably didn’t play how we needed to.
“We started going laterally and lost a lot of our punch. We need to fix that up.
“But we knew all along we’d decide the result and we did, it was just the wrong way.”
Johns took particular issue with the Blues’ failure to target Thurston, who was clearly struggling with a shoulder injury before he slotted the match-winning conversion.
NRL immortal and Blues legend Johns said the fact NSW didn’t “go at him the whole game” was “rubbish”.
“I think we got him at times,” Maloney said. “You can’t get bogged down chasing one guy.
“We had a lot of success wearing their middles out.
“When we did that and put them in a corner they lost a lot of options, their backs had to come in and carry them out of trouble so they had no one to move the ball to.”
Despite coach Laurie Daley’s refereeing misgivings, Maloney absolved the whistleblowers of blame.
According to Maloney, decisions against the Blues “didn’t decide the game, we decided the game and we needed to be better”.
“If we had have got to completions in that last 15 minutes it would have been a different story.
“We seemed to get to halfway and have a turnover, and when we got down there they got a penalty, so they seemed to spend 15 minutes in our end.
“They’re too good a side, you give them opportunities time and time again and eventually they’ll get the job done.”
Maloney was more intent on proving NSW’s restored underdog tag wrong in the July 12 finale, when the Maroons will attempt to farewell champion Thurston a winner at home.
The Blues have lost the past six Origin deciders dating back to the beginning of the Maroons reign in 2006, Thurston’s second series in the interstate arena.
“The disappointment hurts but I think that can drive you, we don’t want to feel like this after game three so it gives us a bit of motivation,” Maloney said.
“We were better than them in game one, and I thought we were better last night without getting the job done.
“So there’s no reason we can’t be again.”
Soothsayer
Roar Rookie
Watching Slater deliberately tackle Maloney to the ground after he passed for NSW third try, wrestle him and give him a gobfull, I had no doubt it was calculated to put him off the conversion that was to follow. The tactic worked! Maloney missed. He was no wiser when he took that conversion. Should have taken more time to calm himself down.
Riggs
Guest
Dumb is just a cover up for another 4 letter word which described the blues second half, and I don't mean the word "poor". It also describes a couple of the refs calls when Hayne and Dugan were taken out.
The Barry
Roar Guru
KC - no question from me that Qld deserved the win. I've made several comments on the roar praising qld and bagging the blues refs faulting that has occurred since. But NSW played dumb football. No doubt about that. Qld deserving the win and NSW playing dumb aren't exclusive.
Kobi
Guest
He must be suffering from amnesia
mushi
Guest
It's normally a cofnirmation bais thing with refereeing. We only really look at the decisions which reinforced the result. Take for instance the first sets of six. If oyu look at the replay fifita massively obstructs the wld player looking to presure the kicker and even gould said that nsw "helped" the ball out. but becuase it was so early no one cares as it doesn't "decide" the game. The tema with momentum in a tight contest tends to get the rub of the green in just about every sport I've watched. NSW handed it back to QLD and only have themselves to blame.
farkurnell
Guest
Although frustrated at the time for the blues,on reflection I think it was an exceptional try that Qld scored,that only Qld can do at the death.Credit where credit it due.On the flip side Qld did get the better of the 50/50 call from the officials.
Led Medley
Guest
Id love to see smart footy! Surely thats not a thing with those scholars playing
kingcowboy
Guest
Come on TB, you are better then this. NSW outplayed us in game one and won. Why not give QLD some credit and just say the better team won last night. It was a great game and we got the lollies.
William Dalton Davis
Roar Rookie
He may as well have come out and said stupid is as stupid does and told us all about his magic shoes.
Mantra
Guest
The Johns spray was all about Channel Nine trying to deflect criticism away from the referee and the poor suckers will fall for it.
Art Vanderlay
Guest
Seriously, asking Maloney to comment on "smarts" is a bit like asking Clive Palmer to comment on healthy eating - neither of them would recognise the topic if it bit them.
The Barry
Roar Guru
So Maloney says they didn't play dumb footy but then agrees that they didn't target Thurston, didn't complete sets, gave away penalties, played too laterally, lost their punch and didn't pin Qld in the corners...? Right.