Former NSW stars and commentators lose it over lopsided penalty count in State of Origin battle
NSW media figues, former stars and Blues fans have collectively lost it over the penalty count during Game II of the State of Origin battle in Perth on Wednesday night.
The Maroons were leading the count 8-0 at half-time with the game ending up 10-2 in Queensland's favour.
While there was no doubt the Blues contributed to the lopsided number, the backlash against veteran referee Ashley Klein was quite staggering after the 26-24 win.
Former NSW coach and commentator Phil Gould struggled to contain himself.
'They were aided by a big penalty count and a lot of errors from NSW in the first half so they got all the ball,' Gould said.
'NSW handed it to Queensland on a platter.'
Daily Telegraph reporter Dean Ritchie took to X (formerly Twitter) to vent his frustration.
'Well, well, well. Never thought I'd see the perfect Origin team. Penalties: Qld 8 NSW 0,' he said.
'Eight reasons Ashley Klein can't referee State of Origin decider,' he continued the following day.
Ritchie's colleague Buzz Rothfield was also fuming.
'Dally Ms: 3 Ash Klein, 2 ……, 1 ……,' he wrote on X.
Another NRL News Corp account, the Oracle, said: 'How did Ashley Klein get Origin 2 after his performance in game one ? He is horrendous AGAIN.
'For the first time in Origin history….a team has received the opening 9 penalties in a match. Not even Barry Gommersall could match this.'
NRL writer Adam Hawse also blew up on social media.
'Klein's whistle will give us all nightmares, but Blues were own worst enemy in first half. Poor discipline. Poor handling. No control,' he said.
'I think Ashley Klein's streak of 11 Origins in a row has come to an end.'
Former NSW stars Jarryd Hayne and Jamie Soward also joined the chorus.
''That will do me. Ash doing his best to get in the way here,' Soward said.
While Hayne ranted: ''This is why Origin is the greatest game in this country!!! Regardless of the pressure teams face, it is the team spirit that truly matters. PS. 7-0 pen count. Did some individuals attempt to influence the referees to force a decider?'
During the match, Blues captain Isaah Yeo was spotted talking to Klein, and after the match he believed they didn't get the rub of the green.
But Yeo admitted his teammates didn't help the issue.
'There's certainly a few that we were shooting ourselves in the foot with and they were just penalties,' Yeo said.
'Other ones are 50-50. Some nights you get them, some nights you don't.
'So what you can't do is, you can't go and drop the ball early in the next set early in the tackle count when you've got the ball.
'So obviously I'd like that to be a bit more even, but we were our own worst enemy at times as well.'
NSW coach Laurie Daley did not want to speak about it.
'I can't tell you what I honestly think, so I'm not going to,' Daley said.
'(But) I've got to take responsibility, because we started well (with the first try), but the first half wasn't great.
'So I've got to look at what I've done, because something isn't right.'
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