Ashley Klein has come under fire after the Queensland Maroons won a lopsided penalty count 10-2 in their 26-24 victory over the NSW Blues to force a decider in Sydney.
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Klein gave the first eight penalties of the match against NSW and at one stage in the second half the counr was nine to one in favour of Queensland.
Pundits and experts and former playersd took to X formerly Twitter to voice their frustration with the officiating.
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The Daily Telegraph’s Dean Ritchie called for Klein to be sacked for the decider.
“His ridiculously lopsided penalty count in Perth on Wednesday night attracted savage criticism and condemnation on social media,” Ritchie wrote.
“The penalties were 8-0 to Queensland in the first half. No team, not even at State of Origin level, can repel an opposition with that much possession.
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Former NSW players Jarryd Hayne and Jamie Soward were also critical.
Hayne took to X in the first half, posting: “This is why Origin is the greatest game in this country!!! Regardless of the pressure teams face, it is the team spirit that truly matters.
“Ps 7-0 pen count. Did some individuals attempt to influence the referees to force a decider?”
Former NSW playmaker Soward wrote: “That will do me. Ash doing his best to get in the way here.”
Former Blues player Matty Johns, however, said NSW only had themselves to blame.
“Us New South Welshman, most people will point to that and go look at that, but I tell you what, we were f***ing undisciplined,” he said on the Backstage with Cooper and Matty Johns podcast.
“That’s it. Don’t blame the referee. We were undisciplined.”
Daley, meanwhile, was blunt when asked what he thought of the penalty count.
“I can’t tell you what I honestly think, so I’m not going to,” Daley said.
Yeo believes there were a number of penalties that were warranted against the Blues, but he believes the 50/50s went against them.
“There’s certainly a few that we were shooting ourselves in the foot with and they were just penalties,” Yeo said.
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“Other ones are 50-50. Some nights you get them, some nights you don’t. So what you can’t do is you can’t go drop the ball early in the next set early in the tackle count when you’ve got the ball.
“So obviously I’d like that to be a bit more even, but we were our own worst enemy at times as well.”
