REFEREES Gerard Sutton and Ben Cummins didn’t quite have their party hats on but they sure helped Mal Meninga celebrate his 55th birthday in style.

In the first 20 minutes of last night’s decider at Suncorp Stadium, the two whistleblowers afforded the home side a barrage of largely unnecessary penalties.

The momentum gained by Queensland as a result not only proved a massive advantage for the Maroons, but sucked the life out of the Blues at the same time.

While nothing would have stopped a rampaging Queensland side at Suncorp Stadium last night, conspiracy theorists will at least note the Maroons again got the best of the referees.

All up, Queensland won the penalty count 12-5.

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An early birthday present for coach Mal Meninga? Anyone with a hint of blue in their blood would surely agree.

Sure, the Blues didn’t help themselves.

Prop Aaron Woods was the worst offender, conceding four penalties. Fellow bookend James Tamou and fullback Josh Dugan also conceded two each.

Worse, NSW actually opened the scoring for the night with a penalty goal.

Certainly the Blues lack of control is something coach Laurie Daley will need to look at for next year.

But by the time the final siren blew last night, it would have been a bit rich for even Daley to solely blame the refs for the 52-6 scoreline.

“It came down to possession,’’ Daley said.

“The penalty count was 12-5. But overall it was too much pressure, too much defence.’’

On the eve of the game, The Daily Telegraph revealed how the Maroons had won eight of the last nine penalty counts at Suncorp Stadium. Amazingly, the Blues have only won one penalty count in Brisbane since 2008.

In that time, the Maroons have been awarded 24 more penalties.

In game three last year, Queensland won the penalty count 11-5. That was nearly 70 per cent of the penalties in one match and continued a horrible trend for the Blues at Suncorp Stadium.