Daley has come under widespread scrutiny in the wake of NSW\u2019s comprehensive loss to Queensland in Game 2, which saw the Blues coach unexpectedly drop Haumole Olakau\u2019atu and resist calls to start Cameron Murray.<\/p>\n
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Daley\u2019s use of his bench was particularly contentious<\/a>, while the 1-1 series standing is also a touch misleading considering the Blues looked out of Game 1 before Kalyn Ponga was sent off.<\/p>\n Ritchie clarified that he believes Daley should be open to criticism and that even he was \u201cconfused\u201d by decisions the Blues coach made in Melbourne, but said some of the outside noise has gone too far.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Laurie, like any coach, is open for condemnation, criticism and debate. If there are decisions made that were dubious, I think we have a duty \u2014 as the mainstream media \u2014 to query that and question that,\u201d Ritchie said on NRL 360.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I have been disappointed with has been the online pile-on on Laurie which has got personal. Some of it has been disgusting to be honest with you. It\u2019s been revolting. It\u2019s made me feel sick to my stomach. <\/p>\n \u201cI think Laurie Daley as a coach can be criticised. I\u2019ve got no problem with that. But as a person, it\u2019s time to pull back. Enough is enough. He\u2019s a human being.\u201d<\/p>\n It comes after a left-field theory emerged as a possible explanation<\/a> for rumours that Daley had lost supporting of the dressing room, with suggestions a middle ear infection he suffered could be to blame for claims his pre-game speeches were \u201csleepy\u201d.<\/p>\n Get all the latest NRL news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/p>\n Will Loz coach NSW after Game III? | 02:39<\/p>\n That CODE Sports report<\/a> was described as \u201cpersonal\u201d at the time<\/a>, and Ritchie also used that word to describe some of the criticism levelled at Daley.<\/p>\n \u201cI think he deserves some respect… everyone has bagged the s*** out of him and that\u2019s fine, but now as a state how about we do the right thing. Let\u2019s get the players together. Let\u2019s unite just a little bit, like Queensland do,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe always tear ourselves apart. I\u2019m not saying that about mainstream media, because that\u2019s mainly been analytical… but the other stuff has been very personal. <\/p>\n \u201cIf you want to question his bench or his selections, fair game. That\u2019s what happens when you\u2019re a coach. But the other stuff I think has been totally off-limits.\u201d<\/p>\n Daley\u2019s future as Blues coach remains a major talking point ahead of Game 3, with Brent Read reporting on NRL 360 that all signs still point towards Daley walking away at the end of the series regardless of the result.<\/p>\n Latrell injury spells disaster for NSW | 02:08<\/p>\n \u201cI think that\u2019s the way it\u2019s been heading for a while,\u201d Read added.<\/p>\n Daley may not have a choice if the Blues lose the decider, although Ritchie hit back at what he called a \u201cdoom and gloom\u201d response to the series so far.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s still 1-1… we can still go up there and win it,\u201d Ritchie added. <\/p>\n However, former NSW advisor Greg Alexander, who said he is \u201cas blue as blue\u201d even admitted he can understand why critics south of the border have been so vocal.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m as blue as blue, but do you believe that without Kalyn Ponga (NSW win)?\u201d Alexander asked. <\/p>\n \u201cGame three of last year has led into the first half of game one where we were down by 20 into the second half of game two. It\u2019s not just games one and two this year. It\u2019s how we were beaten last year in the decider… that\u2019s why it\u2019s doom and gloom… it wasn\u2019t just the fact we lost last year, it was the manner we lost.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Veteran rugby league reporter Dean Ritchie has called out the \u201conline pile-on\u201d towards Blues coach Laurie Daley, describing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":752978,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-752977","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\/752977","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=752977"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/752977\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/752978"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=752977"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=752977"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=752977"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}