Mitchell Pearce is adamant his latest State of Origin disappointment won't break him, but he concedes "there's obviously something wrong with the state" and its preparation after the Blues' game-three capitulation.
The post-mortems on the NSW camp and its culture continue despite Blake Ferguson and Josh Dugan escaping sanction for a drinking session just days before the decider. The NSWRL has absolved them of any wrongdoing, although the pair have conceded they would have refrained if given their time again.
However, some have pointed to that and other incidents as examples of a poor team culture, former Blues coach Phil Gould even suggesting he wouldn't allow his Panthers players to participate in future campaigns until it was overhauled.
The NSWRL will appoint an external consultant to conduct the first major review since the 2010 Canavan report in an attempt to get to the bottom of the latest failure. The Blues camps appear to be good starting points after Pearce admitted the preparation at Kingscliff for the final game fell short of what was required.
Pearce had no issue with the length of the build-ups – the maligned playmaker said he would happily reassemble for a "game four" if there was one – but said there were issues to address.
"At the end of the day, we all want NSW to win, we all want to do our best," he said.
"There's obviously something wrong with the state. The preparation and the way we're delivering, because we haven't won for a long time. I'm sure there are a lot smarter people than me who will work that out."
Pearce has taken much of the blame for the latest defeat. The 28-year-old has featured in seven series, but has never been on the winning side.
"As a half, I wouldn't want it any other way," he said.
"When you win, you get the result and the credit as a half. That's the joy of being a half, you ride the highs and lows. When you pull up short, you take some responsibility and you don't shy away from that.
"I was disappointed with the last game. It's disappointing, a kick in the guts.
"You can lie over it and whinge or you can get back up and play for your club and keep pushing yourself to be a better player. That's what I'll be doing."
Peace remains in contention for the Dally M medal, but hasn't been able to bring his club form into the interstate arena. However, he said the latest setback – he has lost 13 of his 18 appearances in the Blues jersey – won't scar him.
"It's disappointing that I wasn't able to win the series this year," he said.
"It was a big goal and something I had my mind set on. It was a lot of build-up for me, all sorts of angles, but I wanted to win just like the other 17 boys in the team.
"It's not going to break me. I'll go again. I bounced back for the Roosters last night and I'm looking forward to the back end of the year. There's plenty more to achieve."
NSW captain Boyd Cordner defended the culture in the NSW camp.
"In NSW we all get along like a house on fire," Cordner said.
"We all respect the coach and we train hard. We turn up and everyone respects the jersey. I can't see anything wrong with the culture with how it is at the moment. I love going into camp. We got the utmost respect for the coach and everyone buys into what we try to achieve. We played well in game one and most of game two, outplayed in game three.
"A lot of this is talked about because we didn't get the results which is fair enough."
