Queensland captain Daly Cherry-Evans says NSW pantomime villain Jarome Luai wanted the Maroons to "lose their heads" in the State of Origin decider but he has a lot of respect for the man he had a flashpoint scuffle with.
Cherry-Evans, 35, was sporting a black eye and licking his wounds after the volatile 14-4 loss to NSW in the series decider.
He was also proud of his side and talking about the fire in his belly to keep playing Origin football in 2025.
No.6 Luai and half Cherry-Evans had an off-the-ball rumble in the 31st minute that led to an all-in melee that spilt over to the sideline with NSW lock Cameron Murray sin-binned for getting involved from the bench and squad member Haumole Olakau'atu removed from the team dugout for also getting amongst it.
Maroons back-rowerJeremiah Nanai was also binned and ultimately nine players were charged by the match review committee from the incident.
Cherry-Evans said in the post-match press conference that Queensland should have received the penalty and that Luai was the instigator.
In the sheds he waxed lyrical about Luai and the moment.
"Look, he is a real competitor. He wants people to lose their heads. He wants to get under your skin," Cherry-Evans said.
"I play (opposite) him a fair bit and I love competing against him. I have got to admire his competitiveness and there is a good footy player there.
"As much as we go at each other there is also a hell of a lot of respect for each other and we always make sure we shake hands and look each other in the eye after the game and know that we are doing nothing personally against each other. It is just part of the game."
Cherry-Evans was supported by his Maroons teammates in the melee as they showed they would not back down in the face of aggression.
"I don't know whether we expected it to go where it went to tonight. I don't know what it looked like but it felt pretty wild," he said.
"It felt like an Origin throwback. I think we can be proud of how we handled it all.
"There were moments in game two where we felt we let each other down by not being there for each other. I am proud of how we stuck together."
Cherry-Evans will make a call on his Origin future in the off-season but was leaning towards adding to his 25 matches for Queensland.
"I thought I was done last year but the fire still keeps burning. Mentally and physically I feel like I can still do it ... that is all provided I am the right person for the job," he said.
"I love this team and I am proud to be captain.
"You don't get to choose your fairytales in rugby league. If tonight was the last night the result is super disappointing but the career has been more than I could have ever thought of as a little kid.
"Either way I am proud of what has happened so far.
"The competitor in me thinks it is hard to walk away."
