{"id":699910,"date":"2026-05-28T11:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-28T11:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/699910\/"},"modified":"2026-05-28T11:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T11:30:10","slug":"state-of-origin-2026-laurie-daley-couldve-been-sacked-mid-series-if-blues-lost-game-i-reasons-why-did-blues-get-lucky-nrl360-news-reaction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/699910\/","title":{"rendered":"State of Origin 2026: Laurie Daley could\u2019ve been sacked mid-series if Blues lost Game I, reasons why, did Blues get lucky, NRL360, news, reaction"},"content":{"rendered":"

A stunning mid-series sacking should\u2019ve potentially been floated by the NSWRL had it not been for Kalyn Ponga\u2019s second half send off<\/a> in Wednesday night\u2019s epic Origin opener.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s the opinion of Code Sports journalist Brent Read, who believes the security of Blues coach Laurie Daley\u2019s job should\u2019ve come into question if New South Wales were soundly beaten in Game I.<\/p>\n

Watch every game of every round of the NRL Premiership LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Blues were ordinary in the first half, trailing Queensland 20-0 at one stage. <\/p>\n

At 20-6 in the second half, the game turned on its head when Ponga was sent off for a shoulder charge on Tolu Koula. <\/p>\n

With a one man advantage for the last 23 minutes, the Blues were able to chase the Maroons down and clinch the Origin opener.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know why or how we played like that,\u201d a dumbfounded Daley said on Thursday morning when asked about his side\u2019s first half.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really comfortable before the game with the space we were in and then you see the first 40 minutes and you try and work out how that happened.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Read, Daley got lucky that Ponga was sent off given the way the game was going, noting the Blues are notorious for slow starts since the NSW legend took over last year.<\/p>\n

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‘Any criticism of Nathan is rubbish’ | 02:04<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was average. The issue is Laurie saying what the problem was, well in their last three games, their start has been diabolical,\u201d Read said on NRL360.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey got away with it last night, they were lucky. If they don\u2019t fix it, they\u2019ll get pounded in Melbourne and they\u2019ll get flogged in Brisbane.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe hasn\u2019t got long to fix it. He\u2019s got three weeks.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy story was written at half time. Forget about changing the players, you need to change the coach. That\u2019s radical midway through a series but I think their performances under Laurie have been bang average. That first half was one of the worst they\u2019ve produced and they\u2019ve had some bad first halves under him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat second half has saved him basically because for me, if they continued that first half in the second, I know it\u2019s crazy to say, but you could think about changing the coach (mid-series).\u201d<\/p>\n

When NRL360 co-host Braith Anasta then asked Read if he seriously thought the Blues would\u2019ve made the drastic change, Read believes a \u201cdiscussion\u201d would\u2019ve been had.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I think it\u2019s a discussion. Definitely a discussion.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave you seen their last three games?\u201d<\/p>\n

‘A send off should be the LAST RESORT’ | 01:28<\/p>\n

After winning Game I last year, the Blues dropped the next two games to lose the series.<\/p>\n

In both of those, Queensland led by 20 points at the half.<\/p>\n

In fact, across the last three State of Origin fixtures, the Blues have been outscored 66-12 in the first half.<\/p>\n

The Daily Telegraph\u2019s Michael Carayannis echoed Read\u2019s comments by noting how worrying a trend that is.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou drop the ball, that happens. But it\u2019s how you respond,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lack of energy and intent in that opening 40 minutes shouldn\u2019t be happening in Game I of a series.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a habit now (under Daley) and that\u2019s the concern for New South Wales.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A stunning mid-series sacking should\u2019ve potentially been floated by the NSWRL had it not been for Kalyn Ponga\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":699911,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,689,18194,651,3464,339875,11101,17343,11096,647,761,762,673,158,677,269536,93778,701,231337,23858,85,340899,670,660],"class_list":["post-699910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australia-and-new-zealand","tag-braith-anasta","tag-brisbane","tag-chelsea-football-club","tag-coach-laurie-daley","tag-cooper-cronk","tag-daily-telegraph","tag-daniel-nuttall","tag-melbourne","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-new-south-wales","tag-nrl","tag-oceania","tag-pic-desk","tag-pullman-hotel","tag-queensland","tag-rohan-kelly","tag-shoulder-charge","tag-sports","tag-stunning-mid-series-sacking","tag-sydney","tag-victoria"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=699910"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/699910\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/699911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=699910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=699910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=699910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}