Queensland star Tom Dearden has admitted that the Maroons’ fiery antics in the State of Origin decider were a direct response to “dog shots” from the Blues in game two.
The fireworks began almost instantly in Wednesday night’s series finale at Suncorp Stadium when three players were knocked out in the opening minutes, before a fiery second-half brawl saw Dane Gagai and Matt Burton both sin-binned.
According to Dearden and Queensland skipper Daly Cherry-Evans, the Maroons made a pact to not be bullied by their more fancied opponents regardless of what the scoreboard read.
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“There were a lot of moments where I felt like we drew a line in the sand and said, ‘Enough’s enough, we’re looking after each other tonight’,” Cherry-Evans told 9News Brisbane.
“We thought that New South Wales had bullied us and did a couple of dog shots in that game two and we didn’t want to let that happen,” Dearden added.
The Gagai-Burton clash provided fireworks in the first minute of the second half as the two players went toe to toe and unleashed on each other in a scene that resembled Alexander Volkanovski’s UFC title fight a week earlier.
Immediately following the punch-on, cameras showed Gagai being embraced by his Queensland teammates before referee Ashley Klein gave him his marching orders.
The 31-year-old, who is one of the more experienced heads on this Queensland team, said he was inspired by league icon Arthur Beetson, who famously punched club teammate Mick Cronin in the inaugural State of Origin clash between the two states in 1980.
“42 years ago a man named Artie Beetson went toe to toe with his own teammate,
Gagai told 9News Brisbane.
“It’s just one of those things. It’s not because you’re going after them, it was just sticking up for his mate.”
One man who wasn’t impressed with the fighting skills on display from the players was legendary former Blues coach Phil Gould.
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“It showed they had never done it before. I don’t think anyone can fight,” he told Wide World of Sports’ Six Tackles With Gus.
“They had to get one bloke (Tino Fa’asuamaleaui) to hold him (Burton) so the other bloke (Gagai) could hit him. I noticed none of those blokes got hurt, it wasn’t the blokes making tackles that got hurt.”