After finally discovering what it’s like to play in a victorious NSW side, Todd Carney has promised to step his game up another notch in the State of Origin decider in Brisbane.
Carney made amends for his tentative performance last month in Melbourne by playing a pivotal role in the early second-half spell that won the game 16-12 for the Blues.
The Cronulla star was quiet in the first period, but burst into life after the restart when he was the central figure in the incident that led to Cooper Cronk’s sin-binning.
Carney looked set to score before he was impeded by Cronk, who was sent from the field for 10 minutes, and he then kicked a penalty to level the scores at 6-6.
Two minutes later, Carney evaded the clutches of Ashley Harrison and found Brett Stewart in support and the Manly fullback scored his second try of the night.
Josh Morris added a third for the Blues just before Cronk returned to the action in what proved to be the match-winner for Ricky Stuart’s side.
Carney admitted he was in a much better frame of mind having tasted the experience of Origin in game one.
“It was a new experience from game one and I went in with a totally different approach,” Carney said.
“It’s something I will continue for game three and hopefully it will have the same result.
“To come and play how I did tonight was very refreshing for me.
“But I still have a job to do in Brisbane and I have to be even better and raise my game again.
“It will be even harder up there so I won’t get too carried away right now.”
Back-rower Anthony Watmough said the Blues would learn lessons from last year’s series when they won in Sydney before being blown away in the first half in Brisbane in the decider.
With the Maroons smarting from an 18-8 defeat in game two, they were desperate to send Darren Lockyer out on a high in his Origin farewell.
Four tries in the opening 33 minutes laid the foundations for a 34-24 win and Watmough is expecting another tough test at Suncorp Stadium when Petero Civoniceva brings the curtain down on his career.
“We’d lost the game by halftime last year,” Watmough told AAP.
“They were desperate to win for Locky and they will again for Petero.
“I wouldn’t say we were caught up in the emotion, but I will say that we’ll be better prepared this time.
“We played well tonight but we need to be even better if we are to have any chance of winning up there.”
