{"id":784901,"date":"2026-07-07T13:59:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T13:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/784901\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T13:59:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T13:59:14","slug":"nathan-cleary-state-of-origin-iii-rant-stuns-as-nsw-blues-prepare-for-showdown-decider-against-queensland-maroons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/784901\/","title":{"rendered":"Nathan Cleary State of Origin III rant stuns as NSW Blues prepare for showdown decider against Queensland Maroons"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is \u201cstupidity\u201d for the Blues to continue picking Nathan Cleary for Origin series if he fails to show up in Wednesday\u2019s decider, journalist Paul Crawley has claimed.<\/p>\n

NSW travel to Brisbane knowing a win will see them reclaim the shield at the Suncorp Stadium.<\/p>\n

But they will have to wrestle the momentum back from the Maroons \u2014 who recovered from their loss in Origin I to thrash the Blues 44-20 at the MCG.<\/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

The series turnaround coincided with Cleary\u2019s dip in form after he thrilled in the opener but struggled in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

And with his record in Origin deciders at a dismal 0-3, expert Crawley feels another poor performance from Cleary should see the Blues \u201cmove on\u201d from the 28-year-old.<\/p>\n

Speaking on NRL 360<\/a>, he said: \u201cThe definition of stupidity is to just keep doing the same thing all the time and getting the same result. Nathan has had enough time in the Blues jumper now.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was brought through as a 20-year-old. He was given time. There were times early in his career where I don\u2019t think he deserved to have that jumper.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt that point, there was other blokes that probably deserved to go, but the Blues put faith in him. They knew he was the long-term halfback and have given him ample time to get it right.\u201d<\/p>\n

He went on to add: \u201cI don\u2019t think he was great for the Kangaroos last year. I don\u2019t think the Kangaroos clicked on that series.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, they won the Ashes three-nil, but there was no stage in that series where I thought the Kangaroos clicked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think at some point you have to move on. If they don\u2019t get it right this series, I would love to see New South Wales take a breath and give the young blokes a go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Inside<\/p>\n

The decider will be a landmark appearance for Cleary as he is set to become the Blues\u2019 all-most capped halfback \u2014 with Wednesday night poised to be his 20th Origin appearance.<\/p>\n

For Cleary, it is the latest big game in a career that has the potential to usurp all others.<\/p>\n

He has already won four premierships, two Clive Churchill Medals, a World Cup and an Ashes series.<\/p>\n

You can throw in the three Origin series that he\u2019s also collected, but for everything Cleary\u2019s achieved in the game, his critics insist he has not \u201cowned the Origin arena\u201d.<\/p>\n

A win at Suncorp Stadium in enemy territory would end that debate once and for all, with the superstar playmaker likely to claim the Wally Lewis Medal.<\/p>\n

Originally published as \u2018Stupidity\u2019: Nathan Cleary State of Origin rant stuns ahead of showdown decider<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It is \u201cstupidity\u201d for the Blues to continue picking Nathan Cleary for Origin series if he fails to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":784902,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-784901","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\/784901","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=784901"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/784901\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/784902"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=784901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=784901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=784901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}