for his facial assault on Anthony Laffranchi, where he allegedly attempted to rip the stitches out of Laffranchi's head wound. Titans player Josh Graham also claimed that Gallen clutched his testicles in a tackle on Graham. Photos of the incident supported the allegation, but no charge was laid against Gallen. Gallen was selected for all three games in the annual State of Origin series. In the third and decisive game of the series Gallen gave away three penalties and came under heavy criticism from fans for his lack of discipline, in particular for his late hit on Johnathan Thurston. Gallen described the loss as the worst of his career but defended himself saying "they've been saying that those three penalties cost us the game. But there's no way in the world that anyone can say that." Due to his ill discipline in the deciding match, there were calls for Gallen to be sacked as captain of the Sharks but coach Ricky Stuart came out and backed Gallen by saying that he should remain the club captain. In round 18, Gallen scored Cronulla's only try in the top of the table clash in which the Sharks lost to Manly by 34 points to 6. Gallen described the heavy defeat as embarrassing. In the following match against the Newcastle Knights, Gallen was put on report for a high shot on Cooper Vuna. He also gave away several other penalties and claimed that the referees were targeting him. In 2008, Gallen represented Australia in the centennial test, scoring a try. In August, Gallen was named in Australia's preliminary 46-man Kangaroos squad for the 2008 Rugby League World Cup, and in October 2008 he was selected in the final 24-man Australia squad. 2009 Although the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks sat on the bottom of the 2009 NRL ladder after six rounds, Gallen was named in the preliminary 40-man squad for NSW for 2009's State of Origin series. He was selected for Australia in the one-off test match against New Zealand on 8 May 2009. In May 2009, Gallen attracted public outrage for racially abusing Mickey Paea. The incident gained attention initially, due to the angry reaction of Paea, who is normally a quiet reserved player with strong religious beliefs. After the event, there were reports Gallen would be stripped of his captaincy. However, pre-empting this, on 1 June 2009, Gallen voluntarily stepped down from his Cronulla