League: Gidley's leadership forged in game three mayhem

NSW captain Kurt Gidley did not back down when Queensland launched a bomb off a penalty tap for no other reason than to intimidate in game three last year. Photo / Getty Images

SYDNEY - It was the moment that defined Kurt Gidley's New South Wales captaincy and he'll put his body on the line again if that's the cost of getting under Queensland's skin.

Gidley didn't take a backward step in defusing a bomb launched for no other reason than to intimidate late in last year's spiteful third State of Origin at Suncorp Stadium.

The game, won 28-16 by NSW, had descended into mayhem after Maroons prop Steve Price was knocked out by a Brett White punch.

"I wasn't scared, I wasn't going to back down from it, that's for sure," Gidley said on the eve of this year's Origin opener at ANZ Stadium.

"What's the worst that could happen to me under that?

"I could get knocked out, that's probably the worst thing, get an injury but I certainly was never going to back down from something like that."

Asked if the courageous catch had stamped him as a true leader in his first series as captain, Gidley said: "Yeah, hopefully because I knew it was coming to start with and I knew we'd got under their skin and I think they knew the game was over.

"They were frustrated, they were trying to just get any sort of payback from what had just happened previously.

"Maybe if I'd dropped the ball it could have been a whole different story ... but I thought I handled it all right and took it like a man I suppose."

Blues coach Craig Bellamy said that was simply why Gidley was in his side.

"I didn't need that to happen for me to think of Kurt as a great leader," Bellamy said.

"It was brave thing to do and that's what you expect off him, that's how he plays his footy, that's why he's in the team."

NSW have learnt from the Maroons' reaction to them muscling up and say there will be no respite tonight either.

"Obviously things didn't go their way and (they) didn't finish off a series like they wanted to and I didn't think they took it that well either," Gidley said.

"It's about us being proactive and getting on the front foot straight away ... we want to be the aggressors in everything we do."

To get there, the Blues have been played some stark video footage of their failings in games one and two last year, as well as some of their more positive play from game three.

"I felt like we played the way a team should have played for NSW in that third game," Gidley said.

"The first couple I don't think we were up to the standards of a Blues team of previous years.

"There's a huge difference between some of the actions in one and two compared to game three.

"Our intent in defence and our numbers in defence were a lot better.

"We looked at some of the bad stuff from the first couple but some of the positive stuff from the third one and that's exactly what we want from game one this time.

"We don't want to have to wait till halftime to work out what we've done wrong."

The biggest question surrounding the Blues is how they will inject giant teenager Jamal Idris, with Gidley shifting to hooker one possibility.

But Bellamy said he had "four options" for getting Idris into the game.

"I'm not going to replace (hooker Michael Ennis) for the sake of replacing him," he said.

"If he needs a break that will come into play, but if he doesn't we can look at some other things."

- AAP