State of Origin Game 3: Brad Fittler fumes over 'dodgy' Origin referee farce

NSW coach Brad Fittler has turned a blowtorch on the referees after watching his side fall to Queensland in a Game 3 thriller.

NSW are State of Origin Champions, but they are celebrating with a sour taste in their mouths.

Queensland avoided a historic series whitewash in a nail-biting Game 3 win on the Gold Coast on Wednesday night.

The game came down to a 79th minute penalty goal attempt from Latrell Mitchell that landed just one metre short of the posts.

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His miss sealed a determined, fighting 20-18 win for Queensland, who were led by inspirational performances from Ben Hunt, Kalyn Ponga and Kurt Capewell.

Hunt was named man of the match before the Blues' official Origin Shield presentation.

NSW had one final play to try to win the match, but their game of keepings-off deep in their own half was eventually cut down, leaving Queensland with a two-point victory.

Ben Hunt was Queensland's best on Wednesday night.

The taste in Blues coach Brad Fittler's mouth will be particularly sour after he put the referees on notice in the middle of the second half. 

Speaking during a live cross with the Channel 9 broadcast studio from inside his coach's box, Fittler suggested his team was being harshly treated by referee Gerard Sutton.

When asked what his team needs to do to get on top in the game, Fittler replied:  "It's a bit hard, Joey. They're sort of lying all over us (in the ruck), to be fair, like now. We're not getting much joy from the ref. We need to play. We're not going to win a grinding game here. We need to play".

His comments came after Queensland enjoyed an avalanche of set re-starts for ruck infringements in the first half.

Fittler said after the game he was also unhappy about the referees keeping their whistles in their mouths in the play that preceded Ben Hunt's second try when he claimed Ponga's tap from a Xavier Coates pass travelled forward.

"There was a few decisions I thought were pretty dodgy, I wasn’t happy with," Fittler said.

"I thought the Ponga one on the right-hand side before the try, I thought that was a knock-on. I thought before the goal kick Latrell got pushed in the back.

 

"I haven’t seen the replay but when I first saw the knock-on I thought that was an obvious call."

The sight of 15 set re-starts and penalties in the first half also left Blues legends Andrew Johns and Phil Gould fuming. 

"The only other point I will make is that someone needs to go down and knock on the referee's door and tell him he's not the main attraction here this evening, he's been way too overzealous with the penalties," Gould said at half time.

"Let the players decide the result."

Johns earlier said: "That’s 15 in 37 minutes, can we let the players decide who wins the game?"

The series dead-rubber still had historic consequences for both teams as NSW chased its first series sweep since 2000.

The Maroons were desperate to save a shred of respectability after being belted in the first two games of the series with a combined score of 76-6.

Their brave fightback in Game 3 has likely saved coach Paul Green's job and saved the Maroons from a 3-0 series humiliation.

Fans inside the stadium were on their feet cheering the Maroons in the final 10 minutes as Queensland made a desperate defensive stand on their own line.

The Maroons were forced to defend with their lives after countless ruck infringement penalties inside their red zone gave the Blues opportunity after opportunity to find a try to win the game. 

But they simply couldn't find a way through Queensland's second half defence, which showed more courage and steel than any other time this series. 

The cheers from the stands came after the Gold Coast crowd had earlier heckled their own team with a chorus of boos as they walked out onto the stadium for the warm-up.

It was humiliating for the players, who were already carrying the series loss on their shoulders. 

Less than two hours later, the Queensland side - except for perhaps captain Daly Cherry-Evans, who was savagely booed - had the full respect of every person inside the stadium, despite NSW winning the series 2-1.

The Blues, however, walk away with a convincing series win and Manly superstar Tom Trbojevic claimed the Wally Lewis Medal as the best player in the series. 

Despite Queensland's win in Game 3, the series combined scores of 94-26 will still go in the history books as the most one-sided series ever seen in State of Origin.

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