State of Origin 2017: NSW Blues ready to confront questions about culture

The controversial aftermath of NSW's latest State of Origin defeat will be addressed by the under-siege Blues on Thursday amid further questions about their preparation during this series and the culture of the organisation in general.

The board of the NSWRL meets on Friday, where Josh Dugan and Blake Ferguson's trip to a NSW north coast pub five days before game three is sure to be on the agenda.

However, such has been the ferocity of criticism of the pair of outside backs and the escalating scrutiny on the Blues set-up as a whole, NSWRL chief executive David Trodden has been moved to fast-track findings from an initial investigation into their venture to the Lennox Point Hotel on their day off on the Friday before Origin III.

Dugan and Ferguson have been slammed by former NSW coaches Ricky Stuart and Craig Bellamy for their excursion 80 kilometres south of the team's training camp at Kingscliff, and front-rower Aaron Woods admitted on Wednesday he was "disappointed they got on the piss all day".

Familiar scenes: Dejected Blues players come to terms with another series defeat.Credit: Getty Images

There have also been claims that Dugan and Ferguson had been drinking at the Kingscliff Bowling Club on the Friday before the first match of the Origin series, which NSW won 28-4.

Trodden will deliver a statement to be ticked off by NSWRL directors on Thursday, before fronting the board a day later.

While that will address the disastrous fallout from their 22-6 loss to Queensland at Suncorp Stadium last week, coach Laurie Daley is then set to appear before the board in coming weeks as part of a post-series review.

There is a growing demand, however, for a more wide-reaching inquiry into the organisation with a view to determining the direction the Origin program should be taken in after years of failure. Seven years ago Brian Canavan, now the NRL's head of football, was appointed to conduct a sweeping review of the NSW Origin program, and after only one series victory since another overhaul is on the cards.

Booze brothers: Josh Dugan and Blake Ferguson have found themselves in the spotlight for the wrong reasons.Credit: Getty Images

Whether Daley has a role in the future is yet to be determined. He has not made clear publicly his intentions, but his back-flipping on a decision to start with David Klemmer rather than Andrew Fifita in Origin III has applied further pressure.

Beyond the coach, there are continuing questions about whether the NSWRL placed too much prominence on maintaining its commercial alliance with The Star, and whether the casino was the appropriate accommodation for the Blues before game two.

The criticism of that decision, including by Fifita, has not appeared to sway The Star from its support of the Blues, though. A spokesman for the casino said on Wednesday it enjoyed "a strong relationship with the NSWRL".

Dugan and Ferguson are furious about being made scapegoats for the Blues' capitulation, but news of another pre-Origin drinking escapade won't help their cause. The general manager of the Kingscliff Bowling Club, Phil Kelly, confirmed the pair had spent two hours drinking and playing poker machines five days before Origin I. He said they had been "reasonably well behaved" and had left the premises after being asked to quieten down.

"They were obliging to take photos with the members," Kelly told News Corp. "They were two typical boofhead footballers that don't know when to give up."

Woods earlier conceded the Dugan and Ferguson had done the wrong thing.

"We trained really well all week, but it's probably the things that we do away from the training paddock that probably let us down," Woods told Sky Sports Radio. [Dugan and Ferguson] probably shouldn't have done it in the limelight, maybe just stay low at the hotel if they wanted to have a beer.

"All these little things, people are just trying to pick up on and try to smash us with. But one to 17, we've got to put our hands up and just cop everything that's coming because we didn't give a good performance."