MAROONS MADE STAR NO.7 LOOK GOOD: CAM
CAMERON Munster says the Maroons made Nathan Cleary look good after NSW’s golden child blitzed Queensland to send Origin to a Brisbane decider.
Cleary was man of the match in NSW’s 44-12 thrashing of Queensland in Origin II in Perth on Sunday night.
The halfback finished with 24 points after scoring two tries and setting up another two in the finest performance of his 12-game Origin career.
Cleary’s mauling of the Maroons came after he was shut down by Queensland in NSW’s 16-10 Origin I loss in Sydney.
The Maroons did such a good job on Cleary that the Blues complained to the NRL about their defensive tactics.
On the back of 10 errors and 54 missed tackles, the Maroons gave Cleary too much time and space in Perth and the No.7 put them to the sword to set up a Suncorp Stadium decider on July 13.
But it wasn’t just Cleary’s brilliance that allowed him to dominate, according to Queensland’s Origin I hero Munster.
“Everyone plays well when they’re full of confidence,” Munster said. “In the first game he wasn’t up to par for himself, he said. He proved his critics wrong.
“He is a good quality player, don’t get me wrong, but we made him look good. We gave him too much time and space.
“If you’re giving someone like that too much time and space, nine times out of 10 they will take the right opportunity at the right time. They were a lot better in certain moments.”
Cleary had the ball on a string for most of the game and was rarely put under any pressure by Queensland.
The Maroons lost the ruck battle and couldn’t rush Cleary’s kicking game. He amassed 430m from 15 kicks and made life difficult for Queensland’s back three.
Cleary set up NSW’s first try for former Penrith teammate Matt Burton with a deft kick and then threw a looping cut-out pass to put Daniel Tupou over.
He bamboozled the Maroons twice with his running game to score a double and kicked eight goals from as many attempts. The Maroons can’t afford to give Cleary so much time in Brisbane, but Munster refused to be critical.
“I’m not going to bag my own teammates, we were all poor,” he said.
“I need to be better, we all need to be better. They were always going to improve in the second game and we didn’t get up for it.”