Queensland Maroons hire NRL referee as State of Origin pressure mounts Matt Cecchin attends the Maroons field session to referee a trial run. QUEENSLAND hired an NRL referee to officiate training on Sunday as statistics reveal the Maroons have won the penalty count four times in the past 11 State of Origin games. While Blues coach Laurie Daley has whinged this series about Queensland being favoured by referees, the truth is the Maroons have not won a penalty count at ANZ Stadium since Game Two 2009. They have lost penalty counts in Sydney the past four games there. Even on neutral ground, the Blues get the rub of the green as the Maroons have not won a penalty count in Melbourne since their winning streak began in 2006. Tired of confusing referee interpretations this series, Maroons coach Mal Meninga brought in former Origin ref Matt Cecchin to run their opposed session against Queensland Residents yesterday morning. Daley brought in two NRL referees before Game One to run one of their opposed sessions. Queensland players said they expected the penalty count to again favour the Blues in Wednesday's decider. When told of the statistics, Brent Tate was adamant officials should be professional enough to ignore crowd pressure. "It is interesting you say that ... it should not be the case," a bemused Tate said. You just want the refs to ref it the same for both sides and I hope that's how it happens. In the second half of Game One, the last game at ANZ Stadium, the Blues were awarded four penalties to one and Queensland still fought back into the contest. Maroons captain Cameron Smith admitted his team would go into the decider expecting referees to be influenced by the crowd. "It is on their home turf and whether you like it or not, it is really hard for referees to not blow a couple of 50/50 calls to the home side," he said. Because if they don't they won't make it out of the stadium. All we ask is for the referee to adjudicate the game the same for both teams. The penalty counts are squared this series, however Queensland officials have rightly been concerned about the penalties that are not being blown. Despite not starting a fight this series, the Maroons have had the same number of players binned as the Blues. Ashley Klein has been dropped for the decider with Ben Cummins earning a recall to officiate alongside Shayne Hayne at ANZ Stadium on Wednesday. Referees manager Daniel Anderson said Meninga spoke to him after Game Three, requesting an official to provide understanding of the Origin standard. "We are always happy to avail referees and before Matt went up there all I said to him was Mal was looking to understand the standard that would be set (in Origin)," Anderson said. I have done evaluations with Mal and Laurie Daley after both games. QRL chairman Peter Betros, a former first grade referee, spoke out about inconsistent refereeing after Game Two. "Brent Tate was sick and tired of being held down," Betros said. If the referees acted on that earlier, I doubt we would have had the problems we later saw in the game.