Ashley Klein has copped heavy backlash after awarding a staggering 10-2 penalty count in Queensland’s favour during their thrilling 26-24 Origin win in Perth, but Matty Johns has urged NSW to look inward before pointing fingers.
Klein blew the whistle on the Blues eight times in a row to open the match, with the penalty count hitting 9-1 at one point in the second half.
The lopsided officiating sparked fury across social media and prompted The Daily Telegraph’s Dean Ritchie to demand Klein be axed for the decider.
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“His ridiculously lopsided penalty count... attracted savage criticism,” Ritchie wrote. “No team, not even at State of Origin level, can repel an opposition with that much possession.”
‘We were f***ing undisciplined’
But Johns wasn't having it.
Speaking on Backstage with Cooper and Matty Johns, the former Blues playmaker said NSW had no one to blame but themselves.
“Us New South Welshman, most people will point to that and go look at that, but I tell you what, we were f***ing undisciplined,” Johns said. “That’s it. Don’t blame the referee. We were undisciplined.”
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Even Blues forward Isaah Yeo admitted several of the calls were fair, though he questioned some of the borderline ones.
“There’s certainly a few that we were shooting ourselves in the foot with and they were just penalties,” Yeo said. “Other ones are 50-50... So obviously I’d like that to be a bit more even, but we were our own worst enemy at times as well.”
Former NSW stars Jarryd Hayne and Jamie Soward were less forgiving, hinting at possible bias and accusing Klein of "getting in the way".
The series now heads to a blockbuster decider in Sydney on July 9.