NSW goalkicker Zac Lomax will live to wonder what might have been in Origin II after three costly conversion misses that ultimately proved the difference as the Blues fell short by two points.
But it was the mystery appearance of heavy strapping tape around Nathan Cleary’s right thigh that may have given the strongest clue of the night that was to come for the hot favourites, with the superstar playmaker’s long kicking game out of action and the goalkicking duties handed to Lomax as a result of a clear niggle.
In the pre-match press conference on Tuesday, Cleary was asked about his lighter duties at the captain’s run, putting it down to “a bit of load management” but when he ran out onto Optus Stadium it became clear that was a ruse.
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The halfback was also quizzed about visualising his kicks at training.
Zac Lomax, Nathan Cleary, Dylan Edwards and Stephen Crichton speak post-match. Cameron Spencer via Getty Images
“I like to go through that visualisation process,” he said.
“It’s just a different way to do it, instead of always having to bank the physical reps.”
It turned out the speculation about Cleary’s fitness was spot on, and the first sign of concern came when Jarome Luai kicked on the first set. That effort went out on the full.
Cleary kicked on the next set but it was only a 20 metre attempt.
The first try came from a Luai grubber with Lomax converting from the sideline.
Latrell Mitchell also kicked in the first 10 minutes, as Andrew Johns described it as a “worry”.
“Now Nathan Cleary on his right leg has got some compression, he hasn’t kicked long, that’s two long kicks, first one Jarome Luai puts it out on the full … he’s not doing the kicking for goal, and not the long kicks, that’s a worry,” he said on Nine.
“He kicks that much, captain’s run he kicked for half an hour, he may have tweaked a quad.”
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Nathan Cleary grabs at his right leg. Nine
NSW scored first in the second half and trailed 26-10 when Lomax just missed to the right.
Cleary’s struggles were evident again in the 50th minute when he tried to shape a banana kick and it landed out on the full.
The spotlight was on the kicking again nine minutes later when NSW scored out wide and Lomax hit the post with his conversion attempt from the sideline. Another miss to the right came from the next try.
Lomax finally had his luck turn when Angus Crichton scored closer to the posts, making for an easy conversion.
NSW fell short in the end though, missing out on six points from those costly attempts.
Blues legend Phil Gould lamented the misses with NSW scoring five tries to Queensland’s four.
“In the end they’ve been beaten on goalkicking,” he said post-match.
“That’s what it was. They scored four tries in the second half and kicked one conversion … Queensland had the benefit of a penalty in the first half and that’s been the difference.”
The general kicking stats told a different story by full time, with Cleary emerging from the sheds a different player after the break.
He finished with 349 kick metres from 14 attempts. Luai had 82 metres from five while Latrell Mitchell booted two efforts for 104 metres.
Post-match, NSW Blues coach Laurie Daley confirmed there was concern for Cleary.
“He just felt a bit tight in his groin. We wanted to limit the amount of force that he put through there. He’s a tough kid Nathan … his groin was tight, but he got through OK,” he said.
Despite the failure to make the most of five tries, Daley wasn’t overly worried about the goalkicking.
“Yeah you want to kick goals, but there was a lot more things that we needed to do that I was disappointed in,” he said.
“Goalkicking is way down the list, it’s more about our execution and intent. There were a lot of things we didn’t do well in the first half that I was more concerned with.”
