Defiant NSW centre Josh Dugan says he and Blake Ferguson have been unfairly made scapegoats for NSW's 2-1 Origin series loss.
Dugan denied reports the controversial pair had damaged a hotel room in Darling Harbour in the lead-up to NSW's heartbreaking game two loss.
"There is absolutely no truth to it at all and all these allegations have done is smear more mud on myself and Fergo," Dugan told Fairfax on Tuesday.
"Fergo and I have been made the scapegoats. That's becoming pretty obvious".
The allegations are believed to have contributed to the sacking of coach Laurie Daley last week.
Dugan says the pair would not have been allowed to play in game two had they misbehaved.
"Let's be honest, when it comes to me and Fergo, any time there is something bad out there it comes out straight away not two months later. We did not trash any room," he said.
Meanwhile, former Blues winger Josh Mansour said Daley may have put too much trust in his players to do the right thing.
When asked if Daley was too nice and trusted his players too much, Mansour replied: "Yeah, maybe a little bit".
"But you want that from a coach. You want a coach to trust in your ability. You want a coach that has confidence in you to take the field every game".
Mansour, who missed this year's series as he recovered from a horror knee injury, said the players needed to take responsibility for the loss.
"For Laurie to cop the full wrath of it, I think is a bit unfair".
Dugan and Ferguson were also criticised after it emerged they had been drinking in the lead-up to the crushing 22-6 loss in the deciding game in Brisbane.
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