NSW were never in the game against Queensland in Origin II Referee Shayne Hayne ensured Queensland had a steady stream of possesion early in the game. THE pre-match talk was that there would be a square-up on Paul Gallen but no one expected it to come from the referees. As hot as Queensland started last night the Blues were murdered in the opening 20 minutes with several dubious calls going to Queensland. James Maloney got a hand on the ball in the first minute and the refs ruled Sam Thaiday was stripped. It piggy-backed Queensland downfield, Thaiday scored the next set. Then the same thing happened to Ryan Hoffman in the seventh minute, but Cameron Smith got off scot-free. Soon after Queensland got another penalty and Johnathan Thurston kicked the goal to take an 8-0 lead. When Darius Boyd crossed for the second try in the 17th minute the possession split was 83-17 per cent in Queensland's favour. The scoreboard read 14-0 and by that stage the penalty count was 4-0 to Queensland. Understandably, the Blues were blowing up. Consistency is all any coach or player can ask for but last night the so-called 50/50 calls early, when it mattered, all went to the home team. We got our first penalty in the 23rd minute. Incidentally, that was when Gallen took his first break. Get this, the skipper had made just 21m from two runs which was the most by any NSW forward. Now compare Gallen's figures to Queensland's - Matt Scott nine runs for 91m, Nate Myles 10 for 77, Corey Parker 10 for 74, Thaiday eight for 56. By halftime the possession split was back to 62-38 but the Blues were running on empty. Andrew Fifita made a huge impression when he came on, clocking up 84m from 11 hit-ups before halftime, but overall the Blues forwards were totally dominated as a direct result to the possession split during those opening 20 minutes. ORIGIN II: Player Ratings Mistakes and frustration were always going to come after that. So today we'll go looking for scapegoats and players to blame. Nathan Merritt will cop it, as will Mitch Pearce and James Maloney for failing to build pressure with repeat sets. But halves don't win games when the forwards don't win the battle up front - and how do you win the battle when you don't get your fair share of the ball? Still on the referees and in particular Daniel Anderson and Dave Smith who came up with the farcical decision to get rid of the biff. As Peter Sterling said in commentary last night: "We now have Arsenal versus Manchester United." But this is not the world game, this is State of Origin and it was built on confrontation. If Anderson and Smith think sin-binning four players for what happened last night is a good look for the game they need to take the lead from Julia Gillard and put it to a poll. Speaking of Gillard, the other loser last night was Channel 9 with the expected record Origin ratings sure to fall short thanks to Labor's leadership ballot. It cost Nine dearly as angry footy fans bombarded their switchboard when the pre-match coverage was delayed by 18 minutes. You'd expect Nine will cop it again today (through no fault of their own) when the ratings figures come out because many viewers would have switched stations or gone to Gem to stay with the leadership showdown.