Referees' boss Robert Finch knew the phone call was coming. It does every year at State of Origin time.

And his answer is invariably the same.

"Why do I have to defend penalty counts against sides who are looking to push the blame elsewhere?" he said.

It seems every Origin game there is one winner and two losers.

And the biggest loser is often the man who carried the whistle.

In Origin I this year Tony Archer was accused by Queensland of not policing the ruck area enough and allowing NSW to slow the game down too much. The Blues won 18-10.

On Wednesday night Queensland won 30-0 and NSW were the ones complaining that Archer was too stringent on his policing as his penalty count increased from six to 16 between the two games.

But Finch is adamant Archer, regarded as the best in the game, was right in both games and is "very comfortable" with the referee's performance.

"Both sides knew what was expected, I had spoken to both, and the first three penalties quite clearly put the line in the sand for both teams," said Finch.

"Some games you've got to referee and that was one of them.

"Smart sides will know where the line is drawn in the sand and then conform to that standard. Quite clearly last night that wasn't the case.

"If they don't conform then we've got to continue to blow penalties."

"I was very comfortable and very happy with the fact that in the end (Archer) sets his standard and he stuck to it for 80 minutes.

"If he doesn't stick at it he ends up probably having an ugly game of footy on his hands."

NSW's biggest complaint was that Archer had changed his interpretation in the ruck area between Origin I and II.

The Blues believe the Maroons had benefitted from voicing their complaints at length prior to Wednesday night's game.

"I suppose if you sing the song long enough they're going to listen, and they were at it all week," said Blues assistant coach Steve Roach.

"It was one-all in the penalties in the first game at halftime, last night it was 6-4, somehow in the same game of football he's found another eight penalties.

"(There were also) three penalties on the fifth tackle, it just kills you ... in saying all that, they were better than us."

But Finch explained the difference in policing the ruck was a result of the conditions.

He said Suncorp Stadium was more conducive to a faster paced game than ANZ Stadium and Archer couldn't be expected to tolerate holding down that resulted in five second play the balls.

"These things are no brainers to referees, they're penalised," he said.

"(The referee) adjudicates on the tackle as he sees it.

"The bottom line of it all is in the end the referee interprets the game as he sees and the teams conform to that ... or he continues to blow them and that is no different to any other game."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP