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State of Origin: What appeared to be a thoughtless penalty from Adam Reynolds may have been more than it seemed, with the NSW halfback appearing to gesture to the referees that Sam Thaiday had grabbed his groin in the tackle.

He loves it.

QUEENSLAND winger Corey Oates has labelled NSW players “dirty bastards”.

The Maroons’ try-scoring star said NSW players targeted him with excessive force and cheap shots during Queensland’s series-clinching 26-16 Game 2 win over NSW at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday night (AEST).

Speaking to Triple M Brisbane’s Marto and Ed Kavalee for breakfast in the victorious Queensland dressing room after the game, Oates happily accused NSW of underhanded tactics that went unnoticed.

It comes after Maroons veteran Sam Thaiday was alleged to have given NSW halfback Adam Reynolds a “squirrel grip” when the second-rower carried the ball into a Reynolds tackle.

Channel 9 footage shows Thaiday clutching the draw string on Reynolds shorts when he was tackled onto the Suncorp turf.

Oates said the dirty tactics went both ways.

“They’re dirty bastards, aren’t they,” Oates said.

“Can I get a penalty? I got cleaned up twice. I couldn’t believe that. I got the biggest hit of the night, I think. He got me an absolute ripper.”

The Broncos star admitted he was roughed up by NSW and claims he was hit with an elbow to the head which was overlooked by referees Gerard Sutton and Ben Cummins.

“I expected that sort of thing,” he said.

Winners are grinners.Source:AAP

“They try to gang up on me when I get the ball, but I’ve sort of changed my game a bit — where I catch the ball.

“We sort of looked at the first game and saw that they were trying to get to me from the marker so I started a bit wider this time and it worked out in the end.

“Honestly, they were into me a bit more this game. I copped a bit of an elbow in the head. It didn’t split me though, so I was pretty happy about that.”

Channel 9 cameras did capture the moment NSW prop Andrew Fifita tackled Oates over the sideline in the first half and then pressed the side of his head into the turf with a face massage.

Oates had the last laugh when he popped up on the end of a sweet play between Johnathan Thurston and Darius Boyd to seal Queensland’s series win.

Oates’ sledge wasn’t the only shot Queensland fired at NSW the day after winning their 10th Origin series from the last 11 series.

Maroons prop Josh McGuire on Wednesday night stuck his boot into NSW on Twitter.

“Losers have meetings winners have parties lol #qld #180,” he posted.

He deleted the tweet on Thursday.

Perhaps the most brutal barb fired at NSW came from one of their own when Blues great Mark Geyer called for selectors to usher in the next generation of NSW players and end captain Paul Gallen’s Origin career immediately.

Corey Oates’ sweet revenge.Source:Getty Images

With Gallen presiding over another Origin series defeat for the Blues on Wednesday night, calls have come thick and fast from the likes of Phil Gould, Steve Mortimer and Geyer for the Cronulla skipper to make way for younger players.

However, NSW coach Laurie Daley has guaranteed Gallen a State of Origin farewell.

A defiant Daley said on Thursday afternoon that the retiring Gallen would be play his final Origin game in the dead rubber on July 13 in Sydney.

“If Gal is fit, he will be there,” Daley said after the Blues landed at Sydney Airport.

“There is no such thing as a dead rubber in Origin and we will be out there to win.

“Everyone is entitled to their opinion but Gal has been a great leader for us and he will be there.” Gallen wasn’t keen to discuss the issue.

However, Daley did concede several NSW players would likely play their final game in Origin III.

That could include Robbie Farah, Greg Bird and Michael Jennings.

“There will probably be a few at the end of this season that will move on,” Daley said.

Daley has not ruled out making some changes to his vanquished side to blood young players such as James Tedesco and Bryce Cartwright.

“We have brought in nine new players over the past two years and, whether we introduce a few more, we will decide that over the next week or so,” Daley said.

— with AAP