‘I’ve got my reality check’: Cleary shoulders blame for Blues loss

But the coach, who handed Cleary his Origin debut as a 20-year-old in 2018, was quick to protect his halfback as he tries to find a winning formula for game two in a fortnight.

“He was good,” Fittler said when asked about Cleary on Thursday. “I don’t think we had very quick play-the-balls. I spoke to him after the game and he wasn’t that happy with his kicking. Apart from that, he was very strong in every other part of his game.

I spoke to him after the game and he wasn’t that happy with his kicking. Apart from that, he was very strong in every other part of his game

Brad Fittler

“It would be good [if we can get him quicker ball], I think everyone would like that. It doesn’t always happen, sometimes you’ve got to work out how to do it without it.

“He wasn’t that far off. Isaah Yeo was about a metre [away], Jack Wighton nearly scored at the death. At the end of the day, we were a pass away from going into extra time. He did what he had to. I was happy with both [Cleary and Jarome Luai], and I thought they contributed highly.

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“They were two evenly-matched teams and it ended up 16-10. I suppose the best player on the field was Cameron Munster. I don’t think that much went wrong.”

Munster’s second-half magic tricks – in which he danced through the Blues defence to set up a subsequent Daly Cherry-Evans try – included twice executing one-on-one steals with the Maroons grimly defending their lead.

“In Origin you have got to take your moments,” Cleary said. “I thought Cam and Daly did really well, so I have got to do what they did.

“Any time the team loses I will take that personally and I definitely didn’t play well. It is a lesson. I can’t change it now, but I can change what I do leading into the next Origin, or the next club game.”