New Queensland State of Origin coach Billy Slater has been involved in more than his fair share of Maroons wins and he ranked Wednesday's series-clinching victory as one of the best.
The hosts overcame the late scratching of star playmaker Cameron Munster and wing Murray Tuilagi due to COVID-19, as well as the loss of weapons Selwyn Cobbo and Lindsay Collins to head knocks in the opening minutes of the contest to fight back and clinch a 22-12 win at a heaving Suncorp Stadium.
A 31-match veteran and key piece in one of the most dominant Origin teams of all time, Slater said the way his side overcame that adversity marked the win as one of the ages.
"That is as good a Queensland victory as I have ever seen," Slater said. "I don’t think I've been any prouder of a team I’ve been involved in."
The circumstances conjured memories of the Maroons famous win back in 1989, when serious injuries to stars like Mal Meninga forced Queensland to complete the game with just 12 players.
"There is a lot of history that has gone before us and we unpacked a lot of that this week, and we just knew that based on all of those Queensland moments it was our turn to produce one," Maroons captain Daly Cherry-Evans said.
The late pre-kick off blows to the Maroons saw the Blues highly favoured to become just the third NSW team to win a series decider at Brisbane.
But a masterclass from man of the match Kalyn Ponga and some heroic performances from some of their debutant ring-ins - including Munster's replacement Tom Dearden and a 78-minute shift from forward Tom Gilbert - guided the Maroons to the finish line.
"Probably the main message was we felt like the team that remained the calmest was going to win," Cherry-Evans said.
"The team that reverted back to just playing footy was going to win because there was so many different things out there that changed the game.
"Those things can really impact the game of footy and it is whoever comes out the other side playing the smarter game and we did that. We played a style that wore them down by the end."
