July 5, 2026 — 1:33pmBrisbane: NSW players are backing referee Ashley Klein to hold his nerve in Wednesday night’s State of Origin series decider in Brisbane and ignore the constant approaches and pleas for set restarts and penalties from Queensland hooker Harry Grant.Grant was regularly seen speaking to Klein in the middle of the MCG in game two, which Queensland won 44-24 to level the series, even though Cameron Munster is the Maroons skipper.Harry Grant gets in referee Ashley Klein’s ear during Origin II.Channel NineGrant was told to play on when trying to walk over Blues back-rower Hudson Young at the play-the-ball (below) in the hope of getting a set restart in the 34th minute.Then, in the 71st minute, Grant deliberately ran into Reece Robson (below), only for Klein to shake his head and order Munster to go back to the mark and play the ball.Grant, however, was back to his scheming best last weekend when he looked at Klein and was given a set restart while playing for Melbourne against Manly.The No.9 has often attracted criticism for some of his on-field gamesmanship, including last year when he “played for” and won a penalty in the dying moments of a clash against the Panthers.Grant came under heavy fire after that incident, and Storm chairman and part-owner Matt Tripp felt the need to defend his star player.“Harry is sensible enough and mature enough to know he plays within the confines of the rules, and outside noise is just that, outside noise,” Tripp said.NSW players said Grant had been fortunate to learn from Cameron Smith, the Melbourne and Queensland legend who was known for trying to influence referees with his constant approaches and antics around the ruck.“Harry must have good relationships with the refs,” Robson said. “Is it gamesmanship? He’s good at playing the game. He’s a good player.“He definitely gets away with a lot of that sort of stuff. I think the whole Queensland side the last couple of games have been better playing that side of the game.“That’s something we need to improve. Some people seem to get away with stuff, others don’t.“I’m just thinking about playing the game and playing it as clean as I can.“Sometimes it can benefit you going after the penalties. It’s something they do really well.“They’re good there at Melbourne with it, so I guess it comes from that. It’s not something they’ve just started to do; they’ve done it for a long time.”Blues back-rower Liam Martin said he hoped Klein would be consistent in sending Grant away again, and not swayed by the parochial Queensland crowd in Brisbane.“He’s a captain [at the Storm], they have the ref’s ear – there aren’t many that speak as much as him [to referees],” Martin said of Grant.Blayke Brailey, who will come off the NSW bench at some stage to relieve Robson at dummy half, said he had learnt the importance of having an open conversation with the whistleblowers after being appointed captain at Cronulla.He said Maroons great Smith had “probably passed on some tips and knowledge” to the current side.“Being a captain now, I’ve had to learn in club land about communicating and going about it the right way with refs; you need to talk to them in the right manner so they work with you,” Brailey said.“There’s an art to it. Cam Smith mastered that. It’s working [for Grant].”The rise in set restarts this season makes it difficult for teams to slow the opposition’s momentum, hence the importance of players such as Grant trying to convince the referees their team deserves fresh sets.Klein will oversee the third game of the Origin series. He was praised for trusting his instincts and sending Kalyn Ponga from the field in game one after he hit Tolu Koula in the head, while he was outstanding in game two, despite his gambling history becoming headline news in the lead up to the interstate clash.From our partners