Blues coach Laurie Daley and captain Isaah Yeo have expressed frustration at the officiating in NSW’s 26-24 loss to Queensland in Perth.
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NSW were on the wrong end of a 10-2 penalty count sparking a furious reaction from pundits who criticised referee Ashley Klein.
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Daley was blunt when asked about the count in his post-match press conference.
“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.
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“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.
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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.
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“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.
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“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
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“We knew what we were going to come against and they delivered.”
“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
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“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.”
