Show Blues no mercy: Tallis
A dominant Queensland pack could heed advice from former captain Gorden Tallis and twist the knife into an already bloodied NSW with an embarrassing clean sweep at ANZ Stadium on Wednesday night.
In true Raging Bull style, Tallis has urged the Maroons to show NSW no mercy by ruthlessly finishing the job.
Tallis said front-row rookies Jason King and Kade Snowden should be given a brutal welcome to see if they buckle under the Origin blow torch.
Coach Mal Meninga will be happy if his champion side play to the peak of their ability.
But he couldn't resist taking a jab at the Blues suggesting they could "try playing some rugby league" in game three instead of their wasted niggle.
A passionate Tallis - still deeply scarred by painful memories of 56-16 third game loss in Origin's last clean sweep series in 2000 - called on Darren Lockyer's Maroons to maintain the rage and bury the Blues in front of their ailing fans.
"I genuinely want Queensland to kick NSW while they're down. I want to see them turn the knife and show no mercy," said Tallis on Tuesday.
Meninga, as coach, was more conservative on game eve than the fiery Tallis.
However those who remember him as a fierce competitor and proud leader know he'll be hoping Tallis' message gets through.
It's hard to forget images of a fired-up, animated Meninga screaming expletives at his players before game one at Lang Park in 1993.
Some of Meninga's colourful rant was picked up by television microphones close to the Queensland players' huddle, leading to a flood of complaints from viewers.
Meninga has toned things down since retiring in 1994.
But beating NSW still drives him just as it did each and every time he pulled on the maroon jumper in his 32 Origins.
Meninga is upset his forwards have failed to get the kudos he feels they deserve after completely dominating the series so far.
He made that point again on Tuesday, getting annoyed by questions about the NSW forwards and how he thought they would perform.
"You blokes (media) keep talking about the Blues and what they need to do," steamed Meninga on his arrival in enemy territory on Tuesday.
"What we've done is our forward pack has managed to play really well.
"They've been dominant. We haven't allowed the Blues get any ascendancy in the forwards, our forwards have dominated in both games.
"I've been very impressed, very pleased and very proud of our forward pack in Origins one and two.
"They've prepared very well for this game knowing they're going to come up against a very competitive and very physical and aggressive forward pack.
"We've been able to handle that in games one and two and I'm very confident we'll be able to handle it game three."
Meninga wasn't interested in discussing claims his players wanted to square up for some incidents they'd looked at from game two in Brisbane.
"There's no resentment. We don't resent it," said a seemingly amused Meninga.
"We've handled it really well and we've got through it unscathed.
"We're happy with the way we've played, we're happy with the way we've stayed composed and we're happy with the way we won the series."
He was mildly interested however in southern newspaper reports implying that under leading whistle blower Tony Archer, who'll control Wednesday night's clash, Queensland had been favoured after coming out on top of the penalty count in seven of the last eight Origins.
"I found that interesting," said Meninga.
"Origin is a lot different to NRL when you talk about refereeing and the referees have let it (series) flow really really well.
"I think the refs have done a fantastic job."
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