NSW players have taken aim at the Queensland training staff, accusing them of abandoning their duty of care by allowing Justin O'Neill to remain on the field after a head knock in Origin one.

O'Neill was pummeled attempting a tackle on NSW winger Josh Mansour in the first half, forcing match officials to bring the game to a halt out of concern for his health.

The stoppage in play in the 32nd minute thwarted the Blues' momentum, upsetting the home side who had struggled for most of the first half to gain the ascendancy.

But of far more concern to the Blues was why O'Neill was allowed to stay on the field, with his Cowboys teammate James Tamou and NSW lock Greg Bird questioning the duty of care shown by the Maroons medical staff.

"When we were on the bench, we were yelling 'you have to get him off' - the rules state that," Tamou told Fairfax Media.

"When we see those sorts of things, we just want the duty of care for the players. To see his body go limp like it did, that's a concussion. That's a proper concussion. No team wants to lose players, but there is a duty of care.

"We have to be really anal about it, because there can be some real damage there. That's on Queensland's head, because if something was to happen to him, maybe even tonight something might happen to him, it's on their head. They have to take better care of the players."

NRL chief medical officer Doctor Paul Bloomfield was on the receiving end of a verbal spray from Blues coach Laurie Daley in the confines of ANZ Stadium after the match, with the Blues critical of how at least two players were allowed to play on despite suffering head knocks.

Dr Bloomfield watched seven different angles of the collision on the sideline and was happy with the precautionary measures shown by Queensland, who gave O'Neill the all-clear after an on-field assessment.

It came just a day after Dr Bloomfield addressed both teams about the seriousness of adhering to the code's strict concussion guidelines, with the Blues also expressing concerns over potential concussions to Josh Papalii and Darius Boyd that went unattended.

Bird, who came off the bench in the opening game of the series, echoed Tamou's sentiment.

"I thought the trainers had a duty of care." he said. "That's something the NRL need to look at."

The decision to stop the play, which left Channel Nine commentator Phil Gould mystified, frustrated the Blues who believe they were denied the chance to build momentum off what would have been a quick Mansour play-the-ball.

"I was off the field at the time, but we were discussing it on the bench about how we were winning the arm wrestle and could have got a really good roll-on there," Tamou said.

"Even in NRL games, we've never had that. There's been a man down, even on our line, they've carried on playing and the other team has come close to scoring. I don't know what the go is there."

It wasn't the only contentious call, with Bird adamant there wasn't enough evidence to overturn the original try awarded to Josh Morris late in the second half.

"I didn't see sufficient evidence to overturn it," Bird said. "At the time, I didn't think you could see anything. It was just a dog's breakfast in there which is why the on-field decision should have stood."