Paul Gallen a leader NSW fans should be proud to support NSW Blues Origin captain Paul Gallen. QUEENSLAND "will be ready" for Paul Gallen in Origin II, according to front page headlines in Brisbane, and I'd be disappointed if they weren't. The way the mob is baying up there in Queensland it is not hard to imagine their fans are prepared to string Gallen up the first chance they get when he runs on to Suncorp Stadium in a fortnight, the only relief being that rope can be hard to find at the footy. Thankfully, Paul Gallen is good with that. The reaction in some parts of NSW, though, has been more worrying. Why is it that we finally get the leader we have been craving in NSW and, straight away, half the State turns against him? They call him a thug. Compare his one-two on Nate Myles to an act of late night street violence, which always has more to do with alcohol than anything anybody ever saw in Origin, but so be it. In Queensland, they're in no doubt about what they're about. In every interview he has given since the game Maroons assistant coach Michael Hagan has warned a "precedent was set" by Gallen in game one. In his column Hagan said that he hopes "Queensland is afforded the same advantages when we play at our home ground" as Gallen was at his. There has been no outpouring of angst from sections of Queensland over Hagan's comments, though. No "let's leave it on the field" mantra or cries against premeditated violence. No, up in Queensland they're all right behind Hagan and his promise of vigilante justice, because that's what Origin means to them. And we accept that because that's Queensland. Anthony Minichiello and Braith Anasta have no problem with Paul Gallen's actions in Origin I. It's not as if the Maroons aren't capable of the get square, either. Remember their response when Brett White knocked out Steve Price in Game III of the 2009 series, and Trent Waterhouse was sent off. Queensland got a penalty shortly after, the team leaders met briefly, and from the restart Cam Smith put up a bomb for a posse of pursuing players to gang tackle NSW captain Kurt Gidley and trigger an all-in brawl. It was blatant, and the man driving it was Queensland's original Mr Cleanskin, Darren Lockyer. Like all great leaders, Lockyer understood there were times you had to take a stand, even if the referee had sufficiently penalised the Blues, if only to show it won't be accepted again. He was applauded across Queensland for it. In NSW we barely care to remember it, let alone maintain the grudge. Instead, we watch Gallen stand up against years of Queensland bullying and instead of saying about time we condemn him for it. Not a lot of backbone there. We instead give air to Queensland's yelping about Gallen attacking a defenceless Myles, with his hands by his side when anybody that has ever been involved in a fight knows that he should have raised them. Nobody ever won a fight with their hands down. We give credibility to Queensland's version that the incident was isolated to Gallen tackling Myles and Myles standing up, oblivious to Gallen's intent, before Gallen unloaded. The context is missing. They didn't see Myles push him and say: "Is that the best you got?" They overlook Myles, three minutes earlier, grabbing Gallen's injured knee and twisting it in a tackle. They ignore it came against the backdrop of Myles leading with his head earlier in the half against Jarryd Hayne, putting Hayne down briefly. Or that it came after Myles knocked out Robbie Farah in game three last year with the same action. Which came after the Blues complained about Myles' head attacks following game one the same year. Sam Burgess said the other night that if you isolated every player's game you would find dozens of similar incidents, and it is true. But Myles particularly irked the Blues with his illegal ploys, and years of behind the scenes whingeing failed to stop it. All this contributed to Gallen saying enough is enough and, like Lockyer had, taking steps to make sure it didn't happen again. And so now, thanks to a page one tip-off, Queensland is threatening retribution. Gallen has accepted as much, and goes to Queensland anyway, prepared to lead his team onto the stadium in front of thousands who wish him harm, and some who will get the opportunity. That is not the behaviour of a man lacking in character. That is a man who deserves to be followed.