New South Wales second-rower Ryan Hoffman sees no reason why Craig Bellamy won't be coaching the Blues in next year's State of Origin series.
Prior to the Origin decider in Sydney on Wednesday night, media reports suggested Bellamy would step down from the position if the Blues happened to win the series.
Queensland won game three 16-10 to claim its third Origin title in succession and Hoffman believes Bellamy won't step aside from the position after such a devastating loss.
"I know what a competitive guy Craig is and to come that close to winning a series I would be very surprised if he doesn't put his hand up to coach New South Wales again," Hoffman said.
"He is a great coach and all of the guys got a lot out of him this series."
Hoffman said the feeling in the New South Wales camp was one of extreme disappointment, but he was proud of the way his team-mates handled themselves throughout the series.
"It has been six weeks of very hard work and to come out of that six weeks without a result is very disappointing," Hoffman said.
"We are very proud of our efforts, especially the effort we put up last night."
Hoffman was confident he will have no case to answer for from the NRL judiciary for his late hit on Melbourne Storm team-mate Cameron Smith during the second half.
The 24-year-old said he apologised to Smith after the match and did not expect anything more to come from it.