Blog: When Paul Gallen punched Nate Myles

It was the moment that epitomised New South Wales’s state of mind after seven arduous years of Queensland State of Origin supremacy, writes Jake Duke.

It was the moment that epitomised New South Wales's state of mind after seven arduous years of Queensland State of Origin supremacy.

With half-time beckoning, NSW brick Paul Gallen decided enough was enough. Year of heartbreak, crushing defeat and persistent bullying at the hands of the merciless Maroons reached boiling point for the Blues skipper, and he responded in the only way he knows -- aggressively, launching a series of well-timed punches at the heavy bag, which is the head of Nate Myles.

Believe it or not, not everyone is thrilled with Gallen's physical interpretation of 'passion'.

Queensland, as you would expect, is furious and bewildered by the fact 'the grub' was not sent out of the field.

However, I think a lot of context has been left out of the discussion regarding the incident. Here are a few key facts, without bias of course.

First, lasts night's game was a State of Origin match, not a club game. And although I agree Gallen's actions warranted a stint cooling off in the sheds, you have to look at the history of the series.

To be sent-off in an Origin game you need to effectively take someone's head off. A clean one on one, good ol' fashioned knuckle and a lower grade swinging arm have never been enough to see a player expelled from the match.

In addition, you will very rarely see a player put in the bin for fighting without his sparring partner hot on his heels. It's simply too big of a call for a referee to disadvantage a team when the stakes are so high, unless that play is extremely foul.

Now, a lot of Queenslanders are probably yelling at their computer screens while reading this, 'Myles did nothing, Gallen king hit him! How is that not foul?'

Well, Myles, despite how it may appear, is no innocent victim in this ordeal and he is not crying foul either.

To get to the root of what's The Courier Mail labelled 'thuggery', it's important to illustrate some moments in the first half that possess a lot more significance than first thought.

The incident Gallen complained to referee Ashley Klein about after his 'king hit'. For those with your thick Maroon-tinted glasses on, this is freeze frame of Myles rolling deliberately to twist the troublesome knee of Gallen - the knee that kept him sidelined until last night.

Gallen then stands to play the ball and as the cameras pan away you catch a glimpse of him shooting a look of disgust and possibly a few words of wisdom towards a fleeing Myles.

NSW goes on to score in the same set and received the ball from the kick-off.

But as soon as Myles takes a hit-up in Queensland's next set, it is on. How do you label that an unprovoked act?

If you don't believe me, watch the game again and see for yourself. This unsportsmanlike action was not the only peppering point for Gallen.

Above is another one of Gallen's 17 hit-ups about to be disturbed by the Queensland workhorse, who, as a Gold Coast Titans fan, I am actually a big supporter of.

Although this incident is nowhere near as blatant or filled with malice as the leg twist, and in real time it would have been hard for Myles to pull out of, the fact that he has led with his knees and hips into Gallen's head has not done his pleas of innocence any favours.

Again, although it may have been hard for Myles to pull out, there seems to be a pattern developing. Within 10 minutes of the late flop on Gallen, Myles has flown in here.

Coincidence, I think not! In fact Myles's last few Origin series negate the clean image he is trying to portray.

He has widely been criticised for leading with his battering ram-like head, especially after the collision that concussed Robbie Farah in last year's decider.

Last night was no-different as he almost head-butted Jarryd Hayne out of the game in the early exchanges.

It is well documented Gallen has had his fair share of issues with on-field discipline and acting aggressively towards other players.

But he has cleaned up his act since being entrusted with NSW captaincy and the responsibility of freeing the Blues from the large crater the state has been buried in since 2006.

As a player who derived this dirtiness through passion and a second-to-none competitive attitude, there is no way he was going to stand aside and let Myles, the most dominant Origin forward in recent years, as Gallen to described him, to bully his team-mates.

Just in the same way I'm sure Matt Scott or Sam Thaiday would not let Greg Bird stretch the boundaries of the game and sportsmanship in an attempt to harm their team-mates. I suspect Queenslanders supporters would be disappointed if they did.

Let's just remember, what goes around comes around in this great game of ours.

Here's a little reminder of what Queensland got away with last year.

We all love a biff in State of Origin and, if the shoe was on the other foot, I know supporters at Suncorp Stadium would have been hailing their 'thug' as a hero as well.