CENTRE RIGHT– Matt Geyer has a laugh while being tackled by the Queensland defence on Saturday night. 160313GRG14
AFTER last year’s controversial State of Origin loss NSW legend Ray Price infamously said he would have walked the Blues off the field in protest at yet another poor decision that favoured the Queenslanders.
That wasn’t necessary in Saturday night’s Legends of League game in Armidale as the Blues ran up a 36-10 hiding of the Maroons.
Price was a special guest at the game and watched eagerly as the Blues legends proved to be too slick for the Queensland veterans.
He even threw in a few words of encouragement.
“I made sure we got a win this time,” Price said.
“We had some good combinations out there.
“Even the players who paid to play played well.
“There was one bloke who’d never played a game before.
“It was a good all-round effort.”
But now the focus shifts the main event.
This year’s State of Origin series is more important than ever.
With Queensland going for eight wins in a row the time has come for a Blues revival.
“It must happen and I think it will happen,” Price said.
But the former Parramatta and NSW legend and dual international warned that the Blues will have to overcome more than just the 17 blokes in maroon
jerseys.
He was filthy at the officiating in last year’s series and said the Blues have to play so well that even some dodgy calls won’t derail them.
“The referees took two away from us last year,” Price said.
“The first game and the third.
“They had a big say.
“We’ve got to play a lot better so that they don’t contribute.
“There was nothing in it.”
The man dubbed “Mr Perpetual Motion” also has a strong opinion on the drug cloud that hangs over the game at the moment.
He questions the whole approach taken so far, but most of all hopes that it won’t hurt NSW’s chances.