The game came right down to the final play after Queensland exploded in the second half to score three tries in 15 minutes. Video. Sky Sport / NRL
Queensland Origin great Cooper Cronk has taken aim at his state's tactics in the final minute of the first State of Origin match at Adelaide Oval.
The Maroons rallied from being down 10-0 at halftime to romp back to an 18-10 lead, before Josh Addo-Carr cut the deficit to just four points in the final five minutes.
With NSW pressing hard, the Blues spent the final minute of the game right on Queensland's line.
From a knock on which gave the Blues a scrum in the Maroons attacking zone, Queensland were trying to slow down the play.
Jai Arrow went down with cramp, before Queensland gave away a penalty through Josh Papalii after the scrum.
After spreading the ball wide, Maroons second rower Felise Kaufusi was penalised and sin binned after flopping on Clint Gutherson, giving NSW a penalty.
But the Queenslander played dumb, refusing to leave the field, despite the tackle being made in the corner.
With time running down, NSW put the ball through the hands with James Tedesco eventually tackled by five Queenslanders.
James Tedesco plays the ball with a second left on the clock, however fulltime was called. Photo / NRL.com
As the quintet slowly peeled off, time elapsed and Sutton blew time off, despite the protests of the NSW players as Tedesco was tackled with six seconds remaining.
Although a veteran of 22 games for Queensland, Cronk had a major problem with the decision.
"Just that controversial little finish there towards the end," Cronk said on Fox League's post-Origin show.
"Kaufusi that was the right call he had to go off. But with a couple of seconds to go there was about five Queensland Maroons basically giving away the penalty waiting for the clock to run down.
"Gerard Sutton should have blown a penalty and given NSW maybe two seconds to set up for one play because that was an infringement that needed to be pulled up."
Daily Telegraph journalist and NRL 360 host Paul Kent went further, calling for Sutton to be barred from refereeing State of Origin.
"Gerard Sutton needs to lose the game for the next game," Kent said. "He shouldn't control Origin again after that. He totally lost it there.
"Kaufusi was just belligerent and refused to go off the field and pretended he didn't know what was going on. Sutton should have got him off.
"And then in the last minute NSW actually passed the ball with time on the clock from dummy half. Then the siren rang with the ball in play and he whistled full-time. It doesn't make sense."
Kent took aim at the Kaufusi sin binning as the tactic was clear after a second successive penalty from the Maroons.
"Watch Kaufusi, he's been told there, go," Kent said. "Still doesn't move, still doesn't move, he gets slightly out of the picture, he's only got three metres to walk to the sideline here, still on the field, looks back.
"That should have been changed to an immediate dismissal. He should be penalised by the NRL for that and then to see referee Sutton get it wrong again here. Queensland were great, Queensland deserved to win but it's just unacceptable at this level of the sport that it's officiated this way."
Cronk agreed.
"Right then and there, with five Queenslanders there with one or two seconds on the clock, Sutton should have — and I don't want to say this because I'm a Queenslander — should have blown the penalty and stopped the game because having five people in a tackle like that hardly ever happens so that tells me it's intentional, and should have given NSW one shot at glory to see if they can win it."
But Cronk then heaped praise on Wayne Bennett with a cheeky smile betraying his words.
Some on social media were also quick to ask the question.
Regardless though, Queensland took the win and the 1-0 win to Sydney, with NSW now needing to win a series in Queensland for the first time since 1994.
