In the end, it can probably be said that this was a victory for experience over youth. The Queenslanders played with greater control and composure during the big moments.
It was "game management" that won it for Queensland. The Maroons just did what they do best. They grind you into the ground. The ability to control the football and field position for virtually the entire second half turned a four point half-time deficit into a nail-biting one point win.

There is no doubt this champion Queensland team simply knew how to win, where the NSW boys completely fluffed what limited opportunities were presented to them when the result was in the balance late in proceedings.

When coach Laurie Daley and his boys review the second-half action on tape, they will shake their heads in disbelief at how they contributed so much to their own demise.

It was not a dominant win by Queensland by any stretch of the imagination. The gap is definitely narrowing between these two teams.  Just at the moment, though, the lessons being learned by NSW are certainly painful.

To be honest I cannot believe NSW lost that game. They were in control going to the break but they just didn't get their game happening at all in the second period.The Blues made some terrible errors, conceded soft penalties and practically begged the Maroons to come and get them.

To counter this poor play, though, the NSW boys were so courageous in defence to keep themselves in the contest despite a mountain of possession against them. They can take a lot of confidence out of this defensive effort. If they can repeat the dose in the remaining two games of the series, they can still retain the Origin shield.

Queensland had enough ball at the NSW end of the field to score a dozen tries. With the superstar playmakers Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk, Johnathan Thurston and Billy Slater throwing everything in their repertoire at the Blues' goal line, it was a Herculean effort by the home side to restrict them to only one second-half try.

So resilient was their second-half defence that the Maroons decided to take long-range penalty goals and field goals to try and close out the result. I was very impressed with NSW's first 40 minutes. If they can just learn to extend this form over the course of the full 80 minutes, they will beat this Queensland side.

The Blues withstood a whirlwind opening to the game by Queensland and did extremely well to concede just one try during this period.  They then fought their way back into the contest courtesy of some real dominance of the advantage line by their front-row pair James Tamou and Aaron Woods.

They produced two brilliant tries to take the lead and were probably disadvantaged by the fact the half-time break loomed up as quickly as it did whilst they were on top.
However, it was their inability at the end of the game to get themselves in position for a match-winning field goal that will haunt them the most about this loss.

I thought the young NSW forward pack was outstanding. Josh Dugan at the back was the best player on the field. There were so many promising elements to NSW's play. But at the end of the day, Origin history only recognises which team wins, not the story behind he result. NSW can still turn his around. They have to learn their lessons quickly, though.

The Queenslanders are not going to gift it to them.