Queensland were heroic but against one of the great NSW teams it only took two defensive errors to bring them unstuck and become just the third Maroons side to lose a series decider at Suncorp Stadium.
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The home side ran out of gas late in their 14-4 loss.
Centre Dane Gagai fell for a show-and-go by Blues No.6 Jarome Luai that led to a Bradman Best try in the 65th minute. Queensland's other centre Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow was lazy at marker three minutes later and Mitchell Moses made him pay.
The Maroons needed to be perfect to beat this NSW team. They weren't. There is no doubt they missed the aggression of injured middle forwards Tino Fa'asuamaleaui, Tom Gilbert and Thomas Flegler for the entire series, along with talismanic five-eighth Cameron Munster.
Coach Billy Slater had made the team watch a replay of their dire defensive display in game two at the MCG where they trailed 34-0 at the break.
The move did the trick, and then some.
Queensland repelled wave after wave of Blues raids to lead 2-0 at halftime, the same scoreline at the end of game one back in 1995 when Paul Vautin's Maroons defied all odds.
NSW had 60 per cent of possession in the first 40 minutes of explosive action. They had 22 play-the-balls inside Queensland's 20m zone compared to three for the Maroons.
"One of the best halves of football I have seen," Queensland legend Cameron Smith said on the Nine Network.
Maroons skipper Daly Cherry-Evans came up with two huge plays early with a try-saving ankle tap on Best. When the Blues threatened soon afterwards, a Cherry-Evans hit dislodged the ball from Luai's grasp.
Five-eighth Tom Dearden made a crunching hit on tearaway Liam Martin that dislodged the ball, after he'd got physical with Dylan Edwards. Incredibly, it was Dearden again who saved a try when centre Stephen Crichton seemed certain to score.
Those plays summed up how much Queensland wanted it.
The clash exploded in the 31st minute when Maroons forward Jeremiah Nanai was sin-binned for charging late into a melee that erupted after Cherry-Evans rumbled with Luai. Such was the feeling in the match that NSW lock Cameron Murray, on the bench at the time, was also binned for getting involved.
Queensland injected Kalyn Ponga off the bench in the 51st minute but it wasn't enough to ignite victory. The Blues deserved to prevail.
Australian Associated Press
