BY CURTIS WOODWARD

@woodward_curtis

Here we are again and let’s be clear – there is never much more in State of Origin than an inch or a “moment” between Queensland and New South Wales in any given season of footy.

Even when the Maroons won a thousand series straight with the likes of Cameron Smith, Billy Slater, Johnathan Thurston, Cooper Cronk and a long line of other superstars – the Blues were in most games throughout that era.

But this is not the imperious QLD empire we once saw.

The Maroons were there to be beaten in Game I.

In fact, the Blues had them until the end.

Game II was a disgrace.

An embarrassing annihilation.

The score wasn’t that bad.

But many good judges were worried about Brad Fittler and Greg Alexander’s selections, tactics and roster rotations long before they got to Brisbane on Wednesday night?

Within minutes of Game II starting at Lang Park – poor old Tom Trbojevic did his pectoral muscle sliding across field and ruled out of the game and Manly-Warringah’s NRL season.

Everyone was gobsmacked when Fittler sent Kangaroos International dummy half Damien Cook out to fill the void.

Yes.

Damien Cook.

What happened in the next 70-odd minutes doesn’t need to be discussed.

We’ve already done it.

Cook tried his guts out.

He did as good as he could.

But they left him there.

It was mind-boggling.

Worse yet, Cook defended Fittler after the fiasco.

“He shouldn’t cop any criticism,” Cook said.

“I’m sick of hearing the criticism about him.

“Every time I come in here he coaches us so well, he makes sure we’re ready to go. It’s all up to us to get out there. We haven’t got the job done and it’s not a reflection of him at all.”

Wow.

Yes it, Damien.

Talk about Stockholm Syndrome.

“Every time I have a chat with him I walk away confident in what my job is and what I’ve got to do. I’ve loved having him as a coach. I don’t think he should be copping any criticism. We were sent out there to do a job and we didn’t do it.”

The job was to win.

Questions are being raised over the Blues coaching position but Freddy wasn't keen to discuss the decision. 😶#9WWOS #NRL #Origin pic.twitter.com/f2UPNi0sL9

— NRL on Nine (@NRLonNine) June 21, 2023

Yep, the Maroons scored more points but that’s because you played centre in a must-win Origin game at Suncorp despite being one of the premier hookers in the competition… Damien.

What is even more worrying is the reaction of the head honchos like Fittler and Alexander who came back to Sydney on Thursday and tried to defend the decision.

Fatty gave the Blues a WHACK last night! 😳#9WWOS #NRL #Origin pic.twitter.com/2649QUVn9h

— NRL on Nine (@NRLonNine) June 21, 2023

State of Origin should be the easiest thing a player, coach or administrator does all season.

You get picked for a representative team and you go be better.

Billy Slater has made QLD better.

NSW has gone backwards and angry fans deserve blood because it shouldn’t be this hard to be a fan and expect their state to do the bare minimum on the biggest stage in Australian sport.

In the post-match press conference, Fittler tried to explain himself.

“I’m not going to talk about interchanges. I’m not going to talk about who we chose. At the end of the day, Cookie did a pretty good job at centre. He beat Val Holmes a couple of times, once, I think he got beat on the inside.”

It’s insane we’re even talking about this.

Nobody can believe it happened.

That’s on Fittler, Alexander and the pouty Andrew Johns.

Matty Johns was right to call him out before the series started.

@woodward_curtis