Latest news with #IsaahYeo
News.com.au
2 days ago
- Sport
- News.com.au
‘Something's not right': Laurie Daley's blunt admission as NSW rage over brutal penalty count
Blues coach Laurie Daley and captain Isaah Yeo have expressed frustration at a lopsided penalty count in NSW's 26-24 loss to Queensland in Perth. NSW were on the wrong end of a 10-2 penalty count that was eight to nil in the first half. It sparked a furious reaction from pundits who criticised referee Ashley Klein's officiating of the match. Daley was blunt when asked what he thought of the penalty count. 'I can't tell you what I honestly think, so I'm not going to,' Daley said. Yeo, meanwhile, admitted the Blues were at fault for a number of penalties but believed they were on the wrong end of a host of 50/50 calls. '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 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.' The Blues also disagreed with the decision to place Blues half Jarome Luai on report for a suspected eye-gouge. 'I thought it was a facial, I didn't see it up in the footage,' Yeo said. 'They put him on the report, but he didn't say why. I thought it was a face shot, so I thought there was a fair few of those in the game.' 'We saw a fair few of them in game one too,' Daley added. Yeo, however, admitted the Blues were their own worst enemy in a performance littered with ill-discipline. 'We just couldn't get out of our own way at the time, and they had all momentum,' he said. 'We probably had momentum through the middle of the field in that second half, but you can't do that to a pack like that. 'We just compounded too much. We would finally get the ball back, and we'd drop the ball early. You just can't miss the jump like this.' Daley said ultimately the Blues did not deserve to win. 'It certainly was a rollercoaster, we just let ourselves down in the first half,' Daley said. 'I just think we just missed the jump with just like completion. 'Like, it really was just errors and penalties, and just compounded, and we just made it really hard for ourselves. 'We showed what we are capable of doing in the second half, but you can't play a half like that against a quality opposition and expect to be close. 'It was a good lesson. Go back to the drawing board, prepare well and go back to Sydney. It's one-all, so we will see how we go in game three. 'I think when we look at the video we will see opportunities, but I think we created, I think five tries to four, but I just get back to discipline, completions. 'We were nowhere near the mark in the first 40, so that was disappointing, but I was proud of them, obviously in the second half. 'They dug deep and showed everyone what they're capable of doing, but you've got to go two halves. You know, it's an old cliche, but it's true.' Daley also paid tribute to the Maroons and said the criticism of Queensland went too far during the week 'We knew what we were going to come against and they delivered,' Daley said. 'And the amount of criticism that they received, which was way over the top, we just knew that they were going to be better. So, we got to be better, and we will be better.' Daley, however, refused to be drawn on Billy Slater's turbulent 24 hours prior to the match. 'I'm not dodging the question, but I've just been focused on the group,' Daley said. 'I really have. I haven't really discussed anything. I just know that my energy's been channelled into the players 'I don't really know. And to be fair, when I'm in camp, I don't read papers. I don't go near them, because I just don't want to know what's going on in the world. And I don't know what's going on in rugby league as well. I wouldn't be able to tell you what's happening.' Daley also revealed Nathan Cleary was battling a groin injury which prevented him from goalkicking duties. 'He just felt a bit tight in his groin, so we wanted to limit the amount of force that he put through there,' Daley said of Cleary. 'So he's a tough kid, Nathan. We know what a quality player he is, but he's tough and his groin was tight, but he got through okay.' 'And as I said, I have got to take responsibility because we started well, but the first half wasn't great. So, I got to look at what I've done, because something's not right.'
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
NSW called out over 'arrogant' pre-Origin move as Billy Slater stunt resurfaces
Laurie Daley and NSW have been labelled 'arrogant' for keeping Billy Slater and Queensland waiting at the pre-game press conference in Perth, while Phil Gould has hit out at the Maroons for their axing of Daly Cherry-Evans. Many have suggested the build-up to State of Origin Game 2 has been rather mild with Slater and the Queensland side largely staying out of the media and throwing very few barbs after their 18-6 defeat at Suncorp. NSW have largely stayed out of the media as well with Spencer Leniu and Latrell Mitchell continuing their self-imposed media bans. Although only a day out from Game 2, the Blues certainly ruffled some feathers in the Queensland section following their tardiness to a media opportunity. Coach Daley, captain Isaah Yeo and Nathan Cleary kept Billy Slater and new Queensland captain Cameron Munster waiting on their arrival fo the press conference on Tuesday ahead of Game 2 in Perth. Reporter Peter Badel, from The Courier Mail, labelled the move from NSW as 'arrogant' as Slater and co were made to wait in front of the media. The NSW contingent did arrive for the press conference, but the move wasn't well received from those north of the border. However, it could have been in response to Slater making Michael Maguire and NSW wait last year with the stunt backfiring in Melbourne. Arrogant Blues keep Maroons waiting at official press conference in Perth. No sign yet of Blues coach Laurie Daley while Maroons twiddle their thumbs. — Pete Badel (@badel_cmail) June 17, 2025 Queensland have been left waiting for 10 minutes now for Blues to show up for the joint press conference in Perth. — Scott Bailey (@ScottBaileyAAP) June 17, 2025 Ahead of Game 2 last year, with Queensland winning Game 1, Maguire took a little swipe at Slater for not turning up on time in a similar situation. And it appears the roles have been reversed a year later with Queensland waiting on the winning team this time around. Although Daley will be hoping he can do one better than Slater and follow through with the victory in Game 2. Last year, leading journalist Dean Ritchie revealed the Blues were privately 'filthy' with Queensland after their stunt. 'The Blues were privately a little bit miffed though, it was for 12.30pm, they were ready to go at twenty past 12 and Queensland lobbed in at twenty to one,' he said on the Sky Sport Radio. 'And then even when Billy got there, Madge was waiting at the gate to go onto the stage and Billy decided to do some autographs and selfies. That's fine to promote the game down here, I get it. But at the same time it took them another few minutes and they were close to 15 minutes late onto the stage. I don't know how you can be late when you work to a stringent itinerary.' While Queensland might not be happy with the Blues, NSW great Gould was left disappointed Cherry-Evans wasn't granted a farewell in the Origin arena. Slater made the stunning decision to drop captain and halfback Cherry-Evans after a poor showing in Game 1. Slater becomes the first coach to drop a captain mid-series this century and his decision was described as 'monumental' by AAP reporter Scott Bailey. Cherry-Evans has most likely played his last game for Queensland having captained the side to a number of series victories. And on Channel Nine's 100% Footy, Gould claimed he felt Chery-Evans didn't receive the send-off he deserved after all his dedication to the Maroon jersey. "He doesn't get that goodbye moment after a great career, they've said goodbye for him," he said on Monday. "He doesn't get to stand their on the field after a win or loss or draw at the end of the series and say 'this is my last time'. "They've made their mind up for him, I think it's been pretty unceremonious actually. I think it's very, very ordinary to be honest." Queensland Rugby League boss Ben Ikin has confirmed Slater will be in charge of the side next year with his contract finishing at the end of the 2026 series. However, Slater is under pressure to stop the dominance from NSW with Daley looking to take his state to their fourth successive win over Queensland.
ABC News
4 days ago
- Sport
- ABC News
The many State of Origin lives of New South Wales halfback Nathan Cleary
As the weather gets colder and the battle between New South Wales and Queensland heats up, you can bet your last dollar Nathan Cleary is set for another run in the State of Origin discourse machine. If it feels like an annual tradition at this point, that's because it is — and given he started so young, it's hard to think of Cleary as a veteran, even though at just 27, his time served says that's exactly what he is. His NRL debut was almost 10 seasons ago to the week, which is long enough to see a generation of players come and go. With news coming through on Origin eve that Bryce Cartwright was leaving Parramatta, just eight of the 33 other players who took the field in Cleary's first NRL game are still in the league. Cleary is level with Latrell Mitchell and Angus Crichton as the state's longest-serving player and level with Crichton and Isaah Yeo as the side's most capped current player. On Wednesday night, he will draw level with Andrew Johns and Mitchell Pearce with 16 caps at halfback for New South Wales, the most of any player in Blues history. He has been around long enough at there is little that has not already been said about Nathan Cleary in Origin football and little he has not been. There were the early years, where he rode shotgun to James Maloney as the junior partner in the halves combination for two series that, given what's happened since, seem like they're from a different player in a different life even if a few old feelings returned for Cleary ahead of Game I, which marked his first Origin match in two years. "It comes with more expectations now, with the standing in the game and the amount of games I've played," Cleary said. "But I'm in a position to play my best footy, I had a very simplified role (back then) and contributed where I could. It's the same now, I want to do my role and my best for the team, but it's having a greater influence on what we're able to do. "Coming back I have a lot more confidence in my own ability and what I'm able to do. But I was definitely still nervous, I felt like the new kid at school and even coming into the game I was quite nervous." It's hard to see the arc of history when you're in the middle of it, but it's worth remembering how much had changed for Cleary in his two years between Origin appearances. From the 2023 series opener to the 2025 equivalent, Penrith won two more premierships and Cleary played what might always be the greatest 20 minutes of football in his entire life. He cannot be the same player, because too much has happened to him, but Cleary's performance at Lang Park fits in well with his middle years of Origin football, which have happened as he was building that legacy with Penrith which is as towering as it is undeniable. His form for New South Wales from 2020, the year everything changed, is harder to parse because there is enough of everything to twist reality into anything you want it to be. His exemplary play in the 2021 series, where he helped steer the Blues to two of the most dominant wins in Origin history, is offset by the series losses in 2020 and 2022, which is then complicated given Cleary was a deserving choice for man of the match in each of New South Wales wins in those series, which came by near record margins, and around and around it goes because in Origin more than anywhere else in rugby league, we turn a team game into an individual sport. Likewise, his efforts in Game I proved a lightning rod. He played a role in each of New South Wales' four tries, straightening the attack particularly well for Brian To'o's try and Zac Lomax's second score and he ran the ball directly and well. Of all the things to come under the microscope, goalkicking would have been the least likely — Cleary is literally the most accurate kicker in first-grade history — but it did after he went one from four from the tee. He couldn't sleep afterwards thinking about it. That game, like Cleary's Origin journey as a whole, does not fit neatly into the boxes we make for our interstate heroes. None of them really do, until we retrofit it after the fact to flatten out and simplify their greatness, sanding out the rough edges and fine details so it fits more neatly into our memories. Johns is the best playmaker the Blues have ever had but he did not start at halfback for all three games of a winning series until eight years after his Origin debut. Peter Sterling has the most man-of-the-match awards of any player in New South Wales history and he only won a single series. Ricky Stuart, who is currently tied with Cleary for most matches won as a Blues halfback (they're also the only two Blues halfbacks to play more than 10 games and have a winning record), had an Origin career that only lasted five years due to the Super League war. Laurie Daley and Brett Kenny, who both have a claim to be the best player New South Wales ever had, were only judged best on ground in an Origin game once each. None of this denigrates their legacies — if anything, it enhances them because it creates a fuller, truer picture and because peaks are made more towering by the valleys from which they rise. Ask for perfection, even from your memories, and you're asking to be let down. Cleary would never ask to be put in the company of those legends. That would tempt a terrible fate. But by the virtue of his accomplishments, and the fact he could have another five series or more to play if injury permits, means that is what he'll be measured against, for better and for worse. That's why his part in this side is changing and why, if the Blues can wrap up the series on Wednesday night in Perth, it could mark the beginning of a third and final stage of Cleary's Origin career, one which could have the longest of tails. A halfback must always be a leader — Cleary was first made vice-captain of the Blues when he was just 22- but that's not the same as being a senior player. He is a young veteran, but a veteran all the same and that changes things. There is less to prove even if there's more to do. It's a transition Cleary began with Penrith this year and one he's trying to bring to Origin with a slightly different bent. At the Panthers, he is mentoring players who grew up watching him but for New South Wales he is tasked with leading other leaders. "I've been challenged as a leader (for Penrith), trying to get around younger guys and inexperienced guys to help them get the best out of themselves but also for them to feel confidence and not that they have to fill the jersey of guys like Jarome Luai and James Fisher-Harris," Cleary said. "As much as the start of the year has been a bit of a challenge I really do believe it's going to benefit me in the future with leadership and the way I play. "You come in here and you're surrounded by guys who are experienced at NRL level but Origin is a different arena. "They all bring their own leadership qualities, it's nice to rub shoulders with leaders at other clubs and understand their ideologies and combine to be a greater force." Cleary's certainty there are still changes to come for his game, things he can learn and improve on and implement at all levels, is striking. The greatest football careers are never completed — they are abandoned. The best players never feel as though they are fully formed even if they seem it to the outside. There is no finished product for Cleary, no endpoint on the winding path he started almost ten years ago now. That thinking has carried him through the ups and downs of Origin for the past seven years and as a new era potentially dawns for him in sky blue it will do the same for some time to come.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Sport
- Daily Mail
How footy legend Nic Naitanui and the Western Force are helping the NSW Blues prepare for their upcoming State of Origin clash - as star forward ruled out with horror eye injury
New South Wales Blues have flown out to Western Australia ahead of State of Origin II at the Optus Stadium. Appetites for rugby league have been growing in the West following the huge news that the NRL will be establishing a new franchise, the Western Bears, in WA. Now though, Isaah Yeo and his side have landed in Perth and it appears as they gear up for this Wednesday's clash, they have been working alongside a rugby union and as well as an AFL side. It comes as Laurie Daley has been forced to make a couple of changes to his squad, with Jacob Preston being drafted in as a 19th man. He'll jet out West on Monday as a replacement for Rabbitohs star Keaon Kolomatangi. The Souths star has suffered a suspected fractured eye socket. He sustained the injury during his side's defeat by Canterbury on Sunday and the injury could rule him out for five weeks. Lindsay Smith has also flown out to WA to join the squad. After arriving in Perth, it appears the Blues have had some support from Super Rugby side, The Western Force and Nic Naitanui, a former West Coast Eagles ruckman. As they look to go 2-0 in the series and claim their second successive series win, The Daily Telegraph writes that the Western Force are supplying the Blues with several players for a scrimmage match. They'll play out the game at the HBF Stadium in Perth on Monday. Meanwhile, Naitanui has also gotten in touch with Daly's side for a collaboration. Head of community relations with the Eagles, the premiership-winning ruckman will host a jersey swap between the two sides. Eagles midfielder Elliot Yeo will meet up with his namesake, NSW captain Isaah Yeo. It comes as the Eagles have a bye round this week before they head out to play Collingwood in Melbourne on June 28. The Blues were due to use the West Coast's training facilities with both sides opting to work together, however, the Eagles AFLW side had already booked out the gym. Ahead of this week's match, the Blues are well aware of the challenge in front of them. Star forward Payne Haas, a standout in State of Origin I, has opened up on the mammoth hill ahead of the side. 'We spoke about it straight after the first game that the job's not done,' Haas said.
Sydney Morning Herald
28-05-2025
- Sport
- Sydney Morning Herald
State of Origin 2025 LIVE updates: Blues win series opener with 18-6 victory at Suncorp Stadium
The Blues have taken a 1-0 lead in the 2025 State of Origin series after Isaah Yeo led his team to victory at Suncorp Stadium.
