Watching the final few moments again.
The 'forward' pass call on Friend was extremely sus. The pass looked perfectly fine and at worse would have seen NSW forced to bring the ball out of their corner. At best, Munster dabs a kick through for DCE to score and wrap the game up.
The Blues had Queensland shot with a minute to go. DCE tried to milk an obstruction and it backfired horribly. Coates came up with a huge defensive play to deny them a try.
The Cleary penalty is one of my personal pet hates. I don't mind a player emphasising a second effort, but when the opponent tries to play the ball too quickly it should be null and void. I don't blame Sutton because the last minute of an Origin decider isn't the time to start a new precedent, but the rule is black and white in the rulebook. The player must be on both feet, standing upright and must maintain their balance while playing the ball. You should be punished for not being able to complete the one basic rule that seperates the code from Union.
Also want to point out that the pass from Cook to get Cleary on the front foot was flat at best. If the Friend pass was forward, that was at least worse.
The Kaufusi sin-bin wasn't surprising, but the ruck was dirty through out, why blow a deliberate penalty sin-bin there when you had so many other chances?
The tackle from Gagai on Tedesco was brilliant. Dominant tackle so it gave Queensland the right to lay on the tackle player longer. The Maroons definitely stretched it but Tedesco didn't play the ball correctly so I thought it was fair the referee showed some leniency.
