State of Origin: Ben Hunt gets backing of Maroons coach Walters

Two moments will haunt Queensland halfback Ben Hunt for years to come and they may end up costing him his Maroons jersey.

Queensland haflback Ben Hunt cuts a forlorn figure after the game at ANZ Stadium. Picture: AAP

Ben Hunt will be glad to see the back of ANZ Stadium. On a night when the State of Origin shield was snatched by NSW, two ­moments will haunt Hunt for years to come. They may end up costing him his Queensland ­jersey.

It was a bitter night for the ­Maroons and few suffered as much as Hunt. He came into the game having acknowledged that he needed to step up after a mixed night in Origin I. Yet two moments either side of halftime defined his evening. In the first half, at nearly the exact place on the field where he dropped a kick-off in the 2015 grand final, Hunt was responsible for only the second penalty try in the history of Origin.

More than three decades after Mal Meninga was awarded the first, Hunt was deemed to have taken out Boyd Cordner as the NSW captain chased a James Maloney kick.

Video referee Steve Chiddy watched numerous replays of the incident before deciding that it was likely Cordner would have got to the ball but for Hunt’s intervention — the other option was to simply give a penalty and send Hunt to the sin-bin.

Maroons captain Greg Inglis protested on the field only to be told by referee Gerard Sutton exactly that.

“He’s ahead of Will Chambers who ended up getting the ball,” Sutton said. “There’s no one else within cooee. We reckon Boyd would have got it.”

Queensland coach Kevin Walters was reluctant to be critical of the decision, although he intimated the officials had got it wrong.

“I will leave that one alone,” Walters said. “I have been watching rugby league … a long time. I am not sure exactly what the rule is with a penalty try. Isn’t it he is definitely going to score?

“That is the decision that came up with and we have to respect that. I don’t want to be what this is all about. NSW won. We have to take our hat off to NSW.”

Not surprisingly, Maloney and NSW coach Brad Fittler took the opposite tack.

“It had to be,” Maloney said. “I think Boyd was about three metres in front of Chambers who ended up going back and getting the ball. I couldn’t see it going any other way. It was a call that had to be made.”

NSW coach Brad Fittler added: “It was a brave call. They go down to 12 men we score a couple of tries. We were coming to get them. Big difference. That was our period.”

That try didn’t end the game. Queensland worked their way back into the contest in the second half and were camped on the NSW line inside the final 10 minutes, when the Blues were reduced to 12 men by the sin-binning of James Roberts.

They frittered their opportunities away, no moment encapsulating that more than when Hunt put through a kick on the third tackle that sailed over the dead ball line.

The foot was taken off the Blues’ throat. At fulltime, Hunt’s stats made for sorry reading. He only ran the ball three times. He matched that with his error count.

Walters refused to be critical of Hunt when asked whether the St George Illawarra halfback would retain his place for Origin III.

“I thought he was really good, Benny,” Walters said. “We have a lot of respect for Benny. We really admire the way we plays. Everyone kicks balls dead. We love what he does. I thought he had a really strong game. I guess that 10-minute period when NSW only had 12 men. We came up with a couple of plays there that weren’t quite right for the situation. I am really happy with the performance and effort from our guys. I thought it was tremendous. We scored three tries to two really and had another one taken away from us.”