After losing the first two games by a combined scoreline of 76-6, Queensland captain Daly Cherry-Evans made the stunning admission the NSW Blues entered the 2021 Origin series ‘more motivated’ than the Maroons.
Brad Fittler’s Blues hold an unassailable 2-0 series lead following Sunday’s emphatic 26-0 victory at Suncorp Stadium.
It is the Blues’ third series triumph in four seasons under Fittler, avenging last November’s 2-1 series loss to the Wayne Bennett-coached Maroons.
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“I don’t think we were lacking passion, I just believe after last year they were more motivated to win the series than we were,” Cherry-Evans said on Sunday night.
The Maroons showed more fighting spirit in Game 2 than during the 50-6 loss in the series opener in Townsville.
Asked why the it was the Maroons who cracked first on Sunday night, Cherry-Evans again made the stunning admission that the Blues had more to play for.
“I probably touched on it just then, probably the motivation factor, you’d have to say theirs is a lot higher than ours at the moment and that’s something we can fix though,” he said.
Cherry-Evans concedes the Blues have a star-studded line-up but insists the Maroons can ‘quickly turns things around’ and avoid their first 3-0 series loss since 2000.
“They’re licking their lips for 3-0 and I just hope it might be that we have sparked something inside of us that kicks us into gear,” he said.
“Because that’s just not something I want to even think about at the moment, it’s tough enough that they’ve won the series, let alone thinking about 3-0.
“I think we’ve got to be motivated by the fact that this has all happened and we can stop the bleeding.”
