Maroons now have licence to brawl in State of Origin II, says Trevor Gillmeister

PAUL Gallen's light punishment for his impersonation of a boxer has handed the Maroons a licence to fight in Origin II.

PAUL Gallen's light punishment for his impersonation of a boxer has handed the Maroons a licence to continue the fight in Origin II.

Former Queensland hardman Trevor Gillmeister says referees have backed themselves into a corner now that king hits have been given the green light after Gallen went all Muhammad Ali on Nate Myles.

The NSW skipper has since blamed his brain explosion on his opponent's niggle, but still copped a week for his cheap shot on the backrower in the lead-up to the one-sided fight.

"What it's going to do now is if one of the Queenslanders does the same thing you won't, or shouldn't, be sin-binned or sent off,'' Gillmeister told Triple M today.

"We'll see what happens in the next (Origin match).

"We had dinner after the game and the boys aren't real happy. So it will be interesting to see what happens... in the second one.''

Gillmeister, who played 22 matches for the Maroons from the cauldron of the back-row, conceded different rules have always applied to Origin.

"I don't know the reason behind it but it has been (different) since day one,'' he said.

"As a young fella I remember (Maroons great) Greg Dowling grabbed me and said 'you can get away with murder here'.

"It's just the way it is.''

A Titans staff member, Gillmeister rubbished claims Myles deserved his dues.

"He's nice and tough, Nate. He's not a dirty player,'' he said.

Speaking on Fox Sports last night, Gallen repeated claims that Myles uses his head in tackles.

When asked if he thought his Test teammate did it intentionally, Gallen said: "Yeah, to be honest.

"And look he gets away with it. He does it well and he's a tough player. What more can I say about it? The vision is there to be seen, I'm not making anything up.''