The shocking call that changed Origin II

State of Origin football is full of 50-50 calls that usually even themselves out. This was not one of them.

Much has been said about the refereeing in Origin II on Wednesday night, but one call stands out as the one that proved particularly costly for the Blues.

NSW looked a completely different side in the second half, a shadow of the team that raced to a 16-6 lead at the break.

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And the rot seemed to start in the 47th minute when the referees missed an obvious NSW penalty.

Josh Dugan was chasing through on a Mitchell Pearce cross-field bomb when he was taken out by Darius Boyd.

Boyd didn't just run Dugan off the ball or block him from chasing - he wrapped his arms around him and tackled him.

Valentine Holmes was allowed to take an easy catch in his in-goal, resulting in a crucial seven-tackle set for Queensland.

Referee Matt Chechin didn't seem to see Boyd's interference on Dugan, but surely assistant referee Gerard Sutton or the nearby touch judge should have said something.

Regardless of whether Dugan would have made it in time to contest the footy or not, the rules state that you cannot tackle a player who is not in possession of the ball.

James Maloney was penalised for that very act in the first half when he took out Billy Slater.

Some say Slater took a dive to win the penalty, but at the end of the day it was a dumb play from Maloney.

Queensland made Maloney pay with the opening try in the ensuing set.

Should NSW have been awarded a penalty in the 47th minute, they probably extend their lead to 18-6 with a penalty goal, two points that would have made a huge difference to the eventual 18-16 scoreline.

Or they potentially cash in with a try that would have been the match-winner.

Instead Queensland marched downfield and made it 16-12 within minutes.

NSW coach Laurie Daley couldn't believe his eyes when the penalty call didn't come, throwing his arms up in the box.

It wasn't the only call Daley wasn't happy with, taking a thinly-veiled swipe at the referees after the game.

The Blues coach was careful with his words so as not to incur a fine for publicly criticising the whistleblowers however he made several pointed comments about their performance.

"I get in trouble if I comment on referees don't I?" Daley said in the post-game press conference.

When he was asked if game two had been officiated differently Daley said: "I think everyone in the room can make their own assumptions."

NSW were without a doubt their own worst enemies in the second half, going away from the game plan that proved so successful in the first.

Yet the Dugan no-call can only be described as a terrible decision that changed the course of the game.

SECOND-HALF MOMENTS THAT CRUELLED NSW:

47th: Pearce crossfield kick for Dugan that Holmes fields inside his in-goal. Seven tackle set.

52nd: Wade Graham and Nathan Peats' missed tackles on Josh McGuire ended in Gagai's first try, igniting the comeback.

58th: Jarryd Hayne attempts an audacious, no-look flick-pass out the back on a left side shift early in the tackle count that went over the sideline.

60th: Hayne compounds the error by getting penalised for stripping the ball from Gagai.

65th: James Maloney's short ball to a marked Graham never found the mark, resulting in a penalty for the Maroons and possession on the halfway line.

69th: Pearce's long kick was cleverly retrieved by Billy Slater in the in-goal. Seven tackle set.

71st: Hayne fumbles Pearce's offload, giving Queensland another set on the halfway line.

74th: With the Maroons struggling to get out of their own end, Graham is penalised for a third-tackle strip on Dylan Napa. Cooper Cronk forces a repeat set on the last play.

77th: And it's in that set where Billy Slater darts across field on a right-side shift, finds Michael Morgan, who produces the flick pass for Gagai's second try.

78th: Johnathan Thurston nails an inswinging conversion from 23 metres out and 10 metres in from touch for the match-winner.

79th: Maloney's crossfield kick taken by Gagai under little pressure.

with AAP