against the Sydney Roosters. On 11 June, in round 13, Gallen sparked controversy in the local derby match against St. George Illawarra at Oki Jubilee Stadium in which Cronulla triumphed 20 points to 16. Gallen was accused of taking a dive after copping a high shot by Richie Williams. After the referee awarded the penalty Gallen rose to his feet and winked at his teammates. Gallen defended the incident claiming that he "was hit in the head and it hurt". St. George-Illawarra coach Nathan Brown hit out at Paul Gallen claiming that he "is a tough player, that wouldn't have knocked the top off him." Also in the match, Gallen was placed on report for a head high tackle on Ben Creagh. However, Gallen did manage to set up the first Sharks try for Mitch Brown. In the days following the game, Gallen continued to come under scrutiny. Gallen explained "We've got a motto here at the Sharks: do whatever it takes to win. That's what I've always done. I'm never going to stop doing that." Gallen continued "we won the game. That's all I care about." In round 14 against New Zealand, Gallen was again put on report by the referee after a head high tackle on Patrick Ah Van. The judiciary charged him with a grade one careless high tackle which in turn meant that he was suspended for the game against South Sydney in the following round. Cronulla had the bye in round 16 which meant that Gallen had not had the previous two weeks to prove himself for selection in the third game of the series in State of Origin. Despite this, Gallen was rewarded for his impressive season to date with a call-up to the New South Wales side for the third State of Origin match, although New South Wales were already 2–0 down in the three-game series. Before the third game of the Origin series, Gallen declared that he "can't wait to be running out and getting booed, I love that sort of stuff. It would mean everything going up there and beating them." After New South Wales had lost the first two games, there was talk that New South Wales lacked passion and Gallen stated that "everybody was sick of hearing it." Just over ten minutes into the match, Gallen put a high shot on Tonie Carroll. Gallen, who was also helped out