Matty Johns' radical plan to change Blues' Origin culture

Matthew Johns has weighed in on the raging debate about the NSW Origin culture with a radical idea aimed at transforming the Blues' fortunes.

The TV personality and former player says something has to change after the Blues suffered their 11th series defeat in the last 12 years, following their Origin III mauling at Suncorp Stadium.

Johns has come up with a proposal to change the pay structure for the NSW team in the hopes of instilling a winning attitude within the squad.

“NSW, we need a culture change,” he said on The Late Show with Matty Johns.

“Have we got people in the team that are doing it for the right reason? When a player gets selected for NSW, win, lose or draw, they get $30,000.

“They deserve it because it’s the toughest of all the rugby codes in the world, it’s the toughest.

“But I tell you what would be a really interesting experiment. The week before selection you bring the 30 players who are in for contention and you sit them down and you say to them, ‘Tell you what we’re going to do this year. There’s no $30,000 appearance fee. You’re going to get $40,000 if you win, but you get nothing if you lose.’

“Go away, have a think about it, if you’re not happy and you don’t want to play, notify us. It would be an easy way to clean them out. Because I tell you, Jake Trbojevic, that bloke would pay $30,000 to play State of Origin and that’s what we need to win a series.”

Johns' comments follow an extraordinary spray from league expert and former Blues coach Phil Gould, who slammed the culture and leadership structure of the NSW squad.

"The culture of this team is not right. But it wasn't just this year, it's been happening for years and years. This is just a culmination of it," Gould said in his Six Tackles with Gus podcast.

"It all starts with leadership. It all starts with who's going to take control over this NSW Origin character, personality. What does it look like? How is it perceived?

"It's been a dog's breakfast for a long time. We don't know what to expect from our NSW side other than disappointment."

"I just don't think Laurie is in control of the campaign. I think too many people are running it for him," he said.

"Too many other people are picking the teams ... setting the agenda ... deciding where the camp is going to be, what the media is going to be, what stories they're going to put out every day.

"How they perceive themselves and ownership of Laurie's team has been handed out to so many people that he's just a bit player in the whole process."

Gould went on to question whether Daley returning to coach the Blues next year would be a good thing.

"I think Laurie's in a bad place at the moment around his football team. Looking at him in that last game and particularly looking at his body language - he wanted to be anywhere else.

"Laurie's cooked. You've only got to look at the body language over the series to see that this takes a really heavy, emotional toll on him.

"We all wanted Laurie to succeed ... but I don't know that we're doing him a favour by saying 'We've got to get you a win, you've got to come back and do it again'."