'Where are you from?': Laurie Daley brushes off talk over future as Blues coach

Laurie Daley brushed off questions about his coaching future for the NSW Blues after another lost decider.

The 24-12 result was the fourth time Daley has failed to close out an Origin series as coach.

Daley took over the job in unusual circumstances, with Michael Maguire accepting the Broncos job after a historic victory in last year's decider at Suncorp Stadium.

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The latest loss is another blight on Daley's record with just one series victory from six attempts, bringing his win percentage in the Origin arena to 39 per cent.

When asked in Wednesday night's post-match press conference if he should be Blues coach next year, Daley responded by asking the journalist who posed the question, "Where are you from?"

Daley signed a two-year deal when he returned to the job late last year and said he "most definitely" is the man to lead the team into next year's series.

"What we've been building [is a successful team]. While I was disappointed with the result, the players had a really good campaign, we just didn't nail the moments. We've got to make sure we're better at that," Daley said.

"I don't see any reason why that group can't [win next year's series]. There is plenty of success [in the team]. It's hard to win Origin series back-to-back, we know that.

"We've only won five back-to-back series in 45 years so it's difficult. Queensland losing last year were always going to bounce back."

When Daley was asked by another reporter why he thought NSW's attack was so disorganised, the Blues coach deferred the question to captain Isaah Yeo, saying he would have better insight because he was on the field.

"They did a really good job on their edges, the way they were defending it and jamming, which we sort of knew that they were going to," Yeo said.

"I reckon we could have showed more of that (patience).

"There were times there where you sort of felt you made half a linebreak and there'd maybe be five or six (Queensland players) come across, which you expect at this level."

The Blues had no answer for Queensland's rushing edge defence and played with little depth, making it easy for the Maroons to pressure.

Re-live the 2025 State of Origin series exclusively live and free on Nine and 9Now.

NSW played faster in the second half thanks to valuable substitutions in Connor Watson and Hudson Young. Storm coach Craig Bellamy handled the substitutions all series and when those players came on they made a difference.

However, Daley was asked why those changes weren't made earlier in the game, considering the Maroons led 20-0 at halftime.

"We've used Hudson differently in both games," Daley said.

"We used him after halftime in game one, before halftime in game two. Connor, we just felt like we started to get a bit of ruck speed there in the second half, so we wanted to play with a bit of speed, so that's the reason why we put him out there, and we'd only used I think two interchanges."

While the media scrutinised the Blues and how their coach could've done things differently, Blues players backed their coach in the sheds after the match.

"He wasn't the reason we lost tonight," Nathan Cleary said. "It was us as players. He committed a lot to this prep, I thought the preparation was really good."

Blues winger Brian To'o added: "We all wouldn't be he playing for the jersey if it wasn't for him.

"We always put our faith in the coach's hands. Depending on whoever he chooses next year, I'll be ready to put my hand up again.

"His ability to connect with not any one player but the collective group is special to bring all the boys together. Coming into these camps I enjoy all the camaraderie around it, especially from the coaches. One thing I love about Loz is his way to connect with all the boys on and off the field."

The underlying trend for the Blues for the last two games was the slow starts, allowing Queensland to open 20 point leads in the first half in both games two and three.

The Blues coach said it was difficult to pinpoint why his team had started slowly after winning game one.

"It's a good question. Something we need to find out," Daley said.

"We'll look into that and what we think we need to be better at. Obviously you don't get another opportunity this year. We'll see what we're better at and do it next year."

There were also questions about the impact of Payne Haas and To'o, with both players having tame nights compared to their usual output.

Both players struggled with injury during the series but Daley hosed down talk of fielding both players while compromised.

"Payne didn't train in game one and got man of the match and then Brian got players' player in game two and didn't do much training," the Blues coach said.

"It might be different if they're younger boys. But those two, never. Once we got given the all clear with them, we trusted them and we knew they'd do the job."