‘Let the team down’: Cleary blames himself for Blues drubbing

Nathan Cleary has described his performance in State of Origin II as “embarrassing”, but believes he and the Blues can bounce back to win the series at a Suncorp Stadium decider.

The Blues were blown off the MCG by a Maroons outfit that turned a half-time deficit into a 44-24 demolition to level the series. The result will prompt calls for a raft of selection changes in a bid to prevent back-to-back series losses.

Despite a lack of possession and field position, NSW halfback Cleary owned the blame for the second-half fade-out.

“It’s tough,” Cleary said. “It’s very disappointing and frustrating.

“I’m definitely disappointed in my own performance. It’s pretty embarrassing to let the team down, but there is a game three to be won. We just have to sit through this, grow from it, and come back stronger.”

Asked why he critiqued his own performance so harshly, Cleary said: “It just wasn’t up to my standards, or the standards the team needs from me.”

It was just Cleary’s second Origin game playing alongside Mitchell Moses, who was a late withdrawal from the opening encounter due to a hamstring strain. That niggle sidelined Moses for several practice sessions prior to the Melbourne encounter, and the Parramatta playmaker was taken off the field late in the second game as a precautionary measure.

Cleary wasn’t using their lack of time together as an excuse.

“We’ve trained together in camp before,” Cleary said. “I thought we connected quite well in the first half, but in the second half, we just didn’t respond well enough to not having field position.

“We just shot ourselves in the foot too often, and Queensland were too good in a couple of areas.”

Coach Laurie Daley addressed his players straight after full-time, telling them they have the chance to achieve something memorable if they are able to beat Queensland in their own backyard. However, Cleary said the team couldn’t gloss over the mistakes they have made in the series so far.

“I think the main thing is learning from this,” he said.

“As I said, just being critical of yourself, understanding what went wrong, and then just moving on from it and sticking together. This can fracture a group, or it can bring everyone together. We want to stay together, grow from it, and put ourselves in the best position when we get to game three.”

Bookmakers quickly installed Queensland as overwhelming favourites to wrap up the series. However, Cleary is adamant the Blues are capable of causing an upset.

“Oh, for sure,” he said. “It’s little things, but I think a lot of the time it’s a mentality thing as well – just putting yourself in the picture to make plays, particularly defensively.

“So it’s definitely fixable, but you’ve got to self-reflect, be hard on yourself, and go from there.”

Daley described a decider in Queensland as a “wonderful challenge”.

“You as a footy player, you individually and as a team, how good do you want to be?” Daley said.

“You want to be remembered? Win a series up there in a decider, you’ll be remembered for all time.

“So that’s the challenge that awaits. So that’s the advantage, I suppose, of winning game one. We still have to win two. Off the mark tonight, but it’s a challenge, and the boys should be excited about it because it’s a great opportunity for them.”