Michael Maguire's 'up yours' to QLD legend, truth about Billy Slater rumours: Good, bad, ugly of Origin 3
Gorden Tallis was made to eat his words as NSW came back to win the State of Origin series.
😃 The good: Gorden Tallis' Origin comments come back to bite him
😔 The bad: Daly Cherry-Evans' comments after ugly melee
😡 The ugly: Billy Slater rift rumours won't go away
Michael Maguire makes Gorden Tallis eat his words
As Gorden Tallis delighted in pointing out, Michael Maguire didn’t play Origin and was not a star at first grade level. But here's the thing Gordie. He is a winner as a coach at club level, on the international scene and now in the State of Origin arena.
Madge may not have played at the highest tier but he certainly gets this coaching caper. And Origin is tailor-made for him.
Maguire, in the eyes of the media, was regarded as having the persona of a cardboard box when he coached Souths. He gave nought away. He was very rarely quotable and went to great lengths to avoid giving the opposition any ammunition.
Maguire's been a different man in a Blues polo shirt. He was sick of Queensland controlling the Origin narrative and decided to get on the front foot with his "glass houses" and "people's team" comments.
He wasn't at all upset to see the supposed Billy Slater v Selwyn Cobbo 'feud' get an airing on the media. It clearly rattled Slater, as did the glass houses comments before Game 2. No coach likes distractions and Madge ensured Slater had a few.
Maguire had all his players – and the vociferous ex-players' brigade – all onside and working as one to defeat a common enemy. Cameron Murray and a suited-up Haumole Olakau’atu leaping from the bench to help teammate Jarome Luai escape a Queensland pile-on was not a great look but underlined the spirit in this NSW side. Maguire gave a big 'up yours' to Tallis and anyone else who doubted his ability to get the job done.
Why wasn't Daly Cherry-Evans sin-binned?
The Queensland camp questioned the performance of referee Ashley Klein and match officials in the wake of the series defeat. It's standard practice for a losing Origin team.
And while they may have justification for some of their complaints, the Maroons escaped with a big call after the melee that spilled over the sideline in the dramatic first half blow up. Queensland skipper Daly Cherry-Evans started the blue by shoving Jarome Luai in the face.
He was penalised but was allowed to stay on the field as Murray, from the bench, and Jeremiah Nanai were binned for running in and escalating the brawl. As Fox Sports' Andrew Voss said: "If DCE doesn’t shove Jarome Luai, we don't have WWIII."
DCE should have gone to the bin but wasn't backing down from his involvement when asked about the incident after the game. In fact, he applauded teammates for getting involved in the fracas.
"It's been the theme of the series…niggle I guess, and it all just boiled over," the Queensland captain said. "I'm just proud of the way no one hesitated to get in there. I feel like I got a lot of love and support from my teammates tonight. I am really proud of that side of the game." In other words, absolutely no regrets.
Billy Slater and Selwyn Cobbo rumours set to linger on
We’ll have to take Billy Slater's word on rumours he and Selwyn Cobbo don’t see eye-to-eye as nothing more than "fake news". But the denial doesn’t mean there isn't an element of truth to it.
Some figures close to the Queensland set-up are surprised Slater picked Cobbo for the decider given the Broncos star opted out of Game 2. The Maroons coach did his best to shelter the young utility back at the time, saying he is "not quite 100 per cent at the moment" and "we thought it was best for Selwyn have a rest".
Slater has not clarified exactly what he meant and there was much speculation off the back of his comments. Basically, the Queensland coach felt he couldn't rely on Cobbo having his game head on.
Slater was in protection mode and that's understandable. But can you just imagine the fun Queenslanders would have had had it been a NSW player 'rested' from Origin.
That was certainly the talk among the Blues. Cobbo didn’t let anyone down in Game 3 as Slater went into bat for his entire squad. Asked if there had been more spite that usual in this series, the Maroons boss said: "I get it. I work in the media.
"I get the build-up, I get the excitement around it, I get the public reading into all the reports. But I honestly don’t hear it. I turned all my stuff off. I don't read the news.
"I don't hear it until I stand in front of a press conference and people ask me questions. For this six-week period, I try to block out all the noise." Expect a bit more noise from the Cobbo story before it dies a natural death and enters Origin folklore.
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