Brad Fittler has taken a pop at Cameron Smith by suggesting the former Queensland captain ended his State of Origin career in fear of being exposed by a new-look Blues side.
Smith called time on his stellar representative career just a few weeks before the series got under way.
An inexperienced New South Wales won only their second Origin series in 13 years with a match to spare, leaving the Maroons to rue injuries and retirements.
Blues coach Fittler questioned Smith's decision to quit on the eve of the final match of the third and final match of the series at Suncorp Stadium.
"For whatever reason he [Smith] might have thought we were picking 11 players that were harder than what he wanted to take on this year," said Fittler.
"Cameron retires and [Queensland] players are injured, I don't know why, but we can't control that at all."
Fittler feels there has been a changing of the guard this year after years of Maroons dominance.
"NSW has done a really good job at winning just about everything. They’ve won all the age groups the last couple of years, they've won the women's [Origin] now." he added.
"Obviously Queensland have fallen behind somewhere."
