Maroons centre Justin Hodges described the incident that resulted in Trent Waterhouse becoming the first NSW player sent off in Origin history as a "dog act", as the on-field violence that marked the end of the match flowed over into a war of words between the players.
Waterhouse was sent off, Steve Price carried off, Ben Creagh and Sam Thaiday sin-binned and Maroons halfback Johnathan Thurston charged for kicking David Williams in the face after a match that finished with players running from all over the field to get involved in a brawl after the final tackle. Thurston later accepted a grade-one contrary conduct charge and is free to play for the Cowboys against Wests Tigers at Leichhardt Oval on Sunday.
The match review committee also charged Waterhouse with grade-one contrary conduct, carrying a one-match ban, after he flopped on Price as he lay unconscious from a Brett White punch after the pair had stood toe-to-toe in the 79th minute of the game won 28-16 by NSW.
Angry Queensland players last night also accused Justin Poore of picking Price up from the ground and dropping him.
As play was stopped while Price to be taken from the field on a medicab, Queensland players had to be physically restrained from seeking retribution on their NSW opponents and Hodges also took aim at Trent Barrett after the match, accusing him of laughing.
"It was a dog act basically," Hodges said. "Waterhouse picked him while he was on the ground so that was one of those dog acts you don't want to see in rugby league.
"It got a bit heated a few times there, particularly when Pricey got hurt. It was a pretty serious injury and it was one of those things that can happen in Origin but we all stuck together and went out there to try and get them back.
"The poor bloke was hurt and to come up and lift him like that, it's one of those things you don't want to see anyone go through even if they're from NSW so I think those guys are going to have to have a good look at themselves."
Waterhouse, who has until noon today to decide whether to challenge the charge, said he had not meant to hurt Price.
"They were definitely blowing up, but it was an accident. I think he was out as I got there to pull him away," Waterhouse said. "These things happen. I just went to tackle him away from the fight."
After the players were separated, Hodges could be heard via the referee's microphones repeatedly yelling "watch your back" towards the NSW players and he later revealed Barrett, who knocked out Greg Inglis with a high shot in Origin II, was the main target of his abuse.
"It was pretty much everyone but Barrett is the one who was laughing," he said. "He did it to GI [Greg Inglis] in the second game but I guess we will just have to wait until we play Cronulla to get him back."
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After the Maroons received the ball back from the penalty, Thurston kicked it straight back to the Blues and piled into a tackle on NSW captain Kurt Gidley, prompting another fight and soon after Creagh and Thaiday were sinbinned.
"Up and under for an all-in, it was good, old-fashioned, but that's footy," said Blues lock Anthony Watmough, who was named man of the match following an outstanding game.
"Things get heated, that's Origin, that's what people come to see and we put on a good show for the crowd. It was toe-to-toe."
Queensland captain Darren Lockyer said: "I only saw the replay but a few of the boys were there and saw the incident and they were filthy. The game was gone so we just thought we would take the tap and give it back to them. We didn't want to do anything illegal we just wanted to be aggressive with our defence."
The game ended with another brawl after veteran Queensland forward Michael Crocker chased rookie NSW hooker Michael Ennis around the field.
"It was crazy there at the end, blokes were running everywhere and everyone knows that Micky Crocker is a great competitor," Ennis said. "It was a great game to be a part of, it had everything I imagined and more.
"It was like Origin games I watched as a kid on TV. People talk about how Origin games don't have what they used to have but it certainly did tonight. We wanted to win, it would have been embarrassing if we had gone down 3-0."
Queensland medical staff have been keeping a close watch on Price.
Price was trading blows with White when Waterhouse came charging in.
White appeared to land the punch that knocked out Price just before Waterhouse grabbed the veteran Queenslander.
Price was taken from the field on the back of medicab with his neck in a brace and blood flowing from his nose and mouth.
"Steve copped a good concussion, he was knocked out but he's on the road to recovery," Queensland team doctor Roy Saunders said.
"We'll be keeping a very close eye on him for the next 24 hours to make sure nothing deteriorates.
"If we need to do anything further, we'll do it through the night."
Dr Saunders said Price had not reported feeling any pins and needles in his arms or legs.
"We didn't know what happened and the protocol is to look after the neck and that's what we did and we made sure we covered all the angles."
He couldn't say how long Price could be sidelined for but he would have to be in doubt for the Warriors' NRL clash with the Roosters on Sunday.
"It depends how he recovers. Everybody's brain recovers differently," he said.
Queensland weren't innocent of some questionable plays with halfback Johnathan Thurston in trouble for using his foot to try and stop a try by winger David Williams.
The Blues were concerned Williams may have suffered a fractured cheekbone as a result of Thurston's kick at the ball which hit him in the head.
"On my part, I led with my foot and I got charged so I'll just cop that on the chin," Thurston said.
"I thought I got the ball but when he got up he had a bit of a blood lip.
"I patted him on the chest and said sorry and he said he was alright."
Thurston said the players were angry and fired up about seeing Price get treated so badly.
"Pricey was cheap-shotted and the boys responded to that," he said.
"Pricey couldn't finish the game, everyone saw what happened to him."
The Queensland camp were filthy that a NSW player roughed up Price after he'd gone down injured and that other Blues players were high-fiving and laughing as he was on the ground.
Justin Hodges called for an up-and-under bomb from his captain after the incident and the aggressive response resulted in Queensland forward Sam Thaiday and two-try hero Ben Creagh being sin binned for 10 minutes as the game threatened to blow up.
"The boys were pretty fired up about what happened to Pricey and they just wanted to respond," said Thurston.
"We're all pretty close mates and that's what we did."
link:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-sta...ocked-out-Steve-Price-kept-under-observation/
