{"id":788017,"date":"2026-07-08T23:57:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T23:57:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/788017\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T23:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T23:57:11","slug":"state-of-origin-2026-queensland-greats-erupt-over-nsw-blues-victory-in-game-3-bunker-controversy-cameron-smith-fallout-opinion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/788017\/","title":{"rendered":"State of Origin 2026: Queensland greats erupt over NSW Blues victory in Game 3, Bunker controversy, Cameron Smith, fallout, opinion"},"content":{"rendered":"

The fallout from New South Wales\u2019 Game III victory <\/a>has come thick and fast with Queensland legends, former players and media personalities not shying away from delivering brutal verdicts on the state\u2019s defeat.<\/p>\n

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After entering Wednesday night\u2019s decider as favourite at Suncorp Stadium, Billy Slater\u2019s side was completely outplayed on home soil as the Blues sealed one of their most memorable series triumphs.<\/p>\n

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The result prompted interesting reactions from both sides of the border, with Queensland-born media pundit Brent Read unleashing on Blues fans while insisting that the Maroons had been on the wrong end of luck throughout the series.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an unusual feeling. You pathetic fools are the losers. You fluked the first game; the series should have been over. You got very lucky,\u201d Read said on the CODE Sports podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cQueensland got no luck in this series. You forgot what it\u2019s like to celebrate so I understand. <\/p>\n

\u201cEnjoy your moment in the sun. All you idiots pinging me, enjoy your moment in the sun because it doesn\u2019t last long because you don\u2019t get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ MORE<\/p>\n

Hidden camera angle twist after huge NRL admission as legends torch \u2018disgraceful\u2019 call<\/a><\/p>\n

Talking Points \u2014 How Cleary shut up \u2018rubbish\u2019 claim; genius move that stopped QLD star<\/a><\/p>\n

Touching Laurie moment cameras missed; Mary embrace as Blues party in style<\/a><\/p>\n

However, Read did admit that Queensland were outplayed in Game III.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was very disappointing. They got very outplayed and all my fears came true,\u201d Read added.<\/p>\n

\u201cNathan Cleary played out of his skin. He was the one fear I had. He won man of the match and the Wally Lewis Medal, so that was my concern. <\/p>\n

\u201cQueensland were off the pace from the start, completely disappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nathan Cleary DOMINATES Origin Decider! | 01:17<\/p>\n

Three-time Queensland Maroons representative Moses Mbye echoed those sentiments, conceding the Blues were simply the better side on the night.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think NSW outplayed the boys last night and it really hurts me to say that they played a better game,\u201d the former NRL utility said on SEN Radio.<\/p>\n

\u201cQueensland started brilliantly, but we didn\u2019t come up with the choccies and then NSW had a couple of good bits with the ball there and the rest is history.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn State of Origin, the little things are the big things and once you lose momentum, it\u2019s so hard to get back. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe [Liam Martin] keeps me up at night, tenacious player and is made for State of Origin. I thought their halves played really well last night. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe got outplayed. There were two quality teams out there and they did it better.\u201d<\/p>\n

“I’m just so happy for Loz!” | 01:16<\/p>\n

\u201cNew South Wales was absolutely the better side, but I do think the refereeing was poor,\u201d former Brisbane Broncos winger Denan Kemp added on the Bloke in a Bar podcast.<\/p>\n

\u201cEssentially no one played their best footy. I thought Harry Grant was really quiet. I think there were moments he looked clunky.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to be to critical that this squad has delivered so much over the last four or five years but this was their game to lose.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey tossed up a low completion rate, high errors and dominated physically and didn\u2019t execute everything<\/p>\n

Maroons dummy-half and Storm skipper Harry Grant added post-match, \u201cWe didn\u2019t help ourselves and didn\u2019t execute but credit to New South Wales.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey played a really good game for 80 minutes there and took their moments and made us pay. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe love the support but obviously you want to show your appreciation with a result so it\u2019s disappointing in that sense. <\/p>\n

\u201cSorry that we couldn\u2019t do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cleary & Blues react to Origin glory! | 10:38<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Queensland legend Cameron Smith took aim at one of the game\u2019s biggest talking points, blasting the Bunker\u2019s decision to award Bradman Best\u2019s second-half try despite Jack Bostock clearly touching the ball.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI just can\u2019t get over this call by the Bunker,\u201d Smith said on Channel 9. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a clear touch by Bostock at a crucial time when it\u2019s only a two-try game. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe just can\u2019t get those wrong. We cannot get them wrong. Not in games like this.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former Maroons front-rower Shane Webcke shared Smith\u2019s frustration, labelling the decision \u201cdisgraceful\u201d and he continued to question the officiating despite acknowledging the Blues\u2019 victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s disgraceful. Take your victory, but it\u2019s very hollow,\u201d he said on Triple M.<\/p>\n

Daley’s passionate response to critics | 02:31<\/p>\n

While Read and the former Queensland players dissected the Maroons\u2019 shortcomings, Blues five-eighth Mitchell Moses fired back at the criticism aimed at New South Wales and coach Laurie Daley in the build-up to the series-decider.<\/p>\n

This saw him declare that the team had silenced its doubters with a statement performance.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur team\u2019s been bashed in the media by everyone. Our coach has been bashed in the media by his own people,\u201d Mitchell Moses said on Triple M post-match.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe only people that were going to change that were the 20 people that went out there and the coaching staff and whoever was in that camp. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s only been done three times and this is the fourth time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been bashed in the media. (People saying) Queensland\u2019s got more pride and it\u2019s all f****** bull****.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve come out and showed the fight we have. Got lucky a few times but that\u2019s footy and we did it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The fallout from New South Wales\u2019 Game III victory has come thick and fast with Queensland legends, former…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":788018,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-788017","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\/788017","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=788017"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788017\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/788018"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788017"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788017"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788017"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}