Gus, Joey lament 'terrible' Blues as blowtorch turns on Laurie

Terrible, shattering, alarm bells.

They were just some of the buzz words to come from NSW's shock loss at home in Origin III.

Once again, the famed Queensland spirit shined in a series the Blues should have won.

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Post-match, Nathan Cleary described it as "shattering".

"It just wasn't good enough, and at the end of the day we didn't react well to their rushing defence," he continued.

"They saved tries, they scrambled and we struggled to do that." 

That was the player view, but the expert analysis was more scathing.

'Origin side playing a club side'

In the lead up to Origin I and II, Phil Gould was confident the Blues would smash the Maroons.

Then for game three, his attitude changed.

On his multiple platforms, he was wary of that Queensland attitude.

Ultimately, he was proved right and he described the Maroons as "terrific" and NSW "terrible". 

"It just went the wrong way for them," he said on Nine.

"It was the perfect exhibition of Origin football. Origin is different to club football and it looked like an Origin side playing against a club side. It looked like a really connected group of blokes with that Origin spirit up against a team of individuals and I can't explain it any other way than that.

"It looked like Queensland had a plan and NSW were disrupted by it, became a rabble in attack and defence and couldn't recover."

Later, Gould's comments on the "style of football" would suggest the heat is partly on the coaching staff of NSW.

"Look, it's a little bit raw at the moment," he said when asked to pinpoint how this happened.

"Naturally, people will start looking at personnel, but I think it comes down to attitude and the style of football. It really comes down to that.

"I just don't think that they came here with an Origin mindset tonight and were virtually outmuscled and outworked and out Origin'd by a Queensland side that were very committed and very together. There's plenty of talent in the NSW side, but talent is not enough and never has been enough at this level.

"It just seemed that they weren't prepared for what they got and that's a disappointing thing."

Darren Lockyer suggested the Blues couldn't handle the favourites tag.

They were favourites to win the series at every point and also favourites for each individual game as the series unfolded. Once again, the bookies got it wrong.

On paper the NSW side was superior but as Lockyer put it, "the attitude wasn't there tonight".

Lockyer then asked Gould how he handled that favouritism tag when he was coach.

"I didn't believe in those things. All I kept looking at was the strengths of the opposition team and the weaknesses in the opposition team, and show them how they could beat us and show us how we could beat them, and playing the scenarios of the game that we needed to win," he said.

"In what I saw in the opening 40 minutes of this game, we didn't have a scenario where we were winning. We were kind of at the mercy of the way Queensland were playing.

"You talk about NSW, don't handle favouritism. Queensland handle being underdogs so well. So it's a double edged sword. Queensland handled that tag and being written off so, so well. And look that's the commentary around Origin that serves the game best isn't it? That Queensland are written off and that NSW are favourites. It's been like this for 45 years."

What'd Joey think?

When it comes to a NSW Blues series loss, all eyes are on Andrew Johns.

Sometimes he can't even front the cameras, the passion is too much. Other times he just lets it all out.

This time, it seemed like Johns simply respected how good Queensland were.

But that didn't stop him from putting NSW's effort under the microscope. 

"Commitment and energy, there was times in that game, for example, the Tom Dearden first try. It was an alarm bells for NSW. We watched that when Robert Toia was put in over the sideline and the ball went down, and pretty much everyone in the NSW defensive line stopped. Hamiso went down and found Tommy Dearden on the inside. That was alarm bells," he said.

"Any 50/50 ball, it seems like Queensland came up with it. They were more desperate tonight and that's what Origin's about.

"Look I don't know if NSW played a couple of gears better, would they have beaten them tonight? Queensland were unbelievable tonight. You look at the completion rate of NSW, that was still pretty good. At one stage they were they were up around 90 per cent with 10 minutes to go but Queensland was just too desperate. Speed of the defensive line, kick chase, they were unbelievable."

Like Gould, Johns wasn't happy with how NSW attacked. 

"It was all that sort of system based attack where you get to a point for a set play and look to Billy's credit, they rushed from the outside, especially Queensland's right side defence," he explained.

"... There was no Plan B and when you're out on the field at this level there has to be a Plan B, a Plan C, if the game plan isn't coming off you need to change on the run.

"I just thought, we were too structured in stages, especially when we were going to our left, the right side defence just rushed and we just had had no Plan B.

"It'd be heartbreaking for Laurie Daley but Queensland were way too good, way too good."

Was it terrible attack or unreal defence?

In the post-match press conference, Daley was asked why the red zone attack couldn't pierce through Queensland.

The coach considered the question before deferring to Isaah Yeo next to him.

"A bit of patience, we could've shown more of that," Yeo said.

Daley then interjected saying the Maroons "scrambled really well".

"There was times there where you made half a line break and there was five or six coming across," Yeo continued.

"Which you expect at this level but we probably needed to be a bit more patient.

"Obviously they were scoring tries and that probably applies a bit of pressure."

Daley was asked point blank after those responses if he should be the coach next year.

He laughed, and responded "most definitely" before asking the journalist where he worked.

So what gives him the confidence he can turn it around?

"What we've been building, I think while I was disappointed with the result, I think the players had a really good campaign, we just didn't nail the moments so we've got to make sure we're better at that," he replied.

Daley then backed the same group of players to do that.

With just under a year now until the next Origin match, the questions will just keep coming.