{"id":712604,"date":"2026-06-03T13:04:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T13:04:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/712604\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T13:04:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T13:04:13","slug":"state-of-origin-2026-laurie-daleys-response-to-critics-after-ugly-nsw-blues-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/712604\/","title":{"rendered":"State of Origin 2026 | Laurie Daley\u2019s response to critics after ugly NSW Blues win"},"content":{"rendered":"

Calls for NSW<\/a> coach Laurie Daley<\/a> to be sacked began to appear on social media<\/a> at half-time of the State of Origin series opener but he was not rattled by the noise.<\/p>\n

A miraculous comeback in the second half<\/a> turned the series opener on its head as the Blues powered home to claim the first win of the series.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

James Tedesco celebrates the winning try.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

But that still did not entirely silence critics who feared Daley\u2019s time might be up.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am sure there would have been a lot of people thinking like that,\u201d he told 9News\u2019 Danny Weidler when informed that experts wanted him sacked by half-time in Origin I.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is just how the game rolls isn\u2019t it … (but) I understand it, I work in the media.\u201d <\/p>\n

While Daley was clearly not rattled by the external noise, he acknowledged the glaring errors his players must work on if they want to be in the fight against Queensland<\/a> in game two.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know we can be a lot better,\u201d Daley said. <\/p>\n

\"Laurie<\/p>\n

Laurie Daley seen speaking with 9News\u00a0Nine News<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd we know we have to be because Queensland will be a lot better.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was emotional (after the first 20 minutes). I stood up (in the coaches box) because it wasn\u2019t the start we were after, and then it just kept happening, the same things.\u201d<\/p>\n

With team lists for game two set to be unveiled next week, there are a number of players who will be top of Daley\u2019s mind as candidates to come into the squad<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Mitchell Moses<\/a> is one of the biggest question marks for game two, given he is recovering from a hamstring injury he suffered during Blues camp.<\/p>\n

He has not been named to play in the King\u2019s Birthday match against the Bulldogs this week with the Parramatta Eels, which is not a promising sign. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mitchell Moses in action at Blues game ahead of game one\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

But the Blues coach still hopes Moses will be in contention. <\/p>\n

Weidler questioned when Daley would expect Moses to be running by given how close he was to having to make the call on his game-two team. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou want them, with a hamstring injury, coming to training ready to go because you want that confidence and they want that confidence,\u201d Daley replied.<\/p>\n

He is also on alert of the possible return of Payne Haas<\/a> for the Blues.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is the best front-rower in the game,\u201d Daley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought he was enormous against the Dragons to punch out 80 minutes. That was impressive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Origin II will take place on Wednesday, June 17 in Melbourne. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Calls for NSW coach Laurie Daley to be sacked began to appear on social media at half-time of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":712605,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-712604","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712604","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=712604"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/712604\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/712605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=712604"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=712604"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=712604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}