A fiery exchange with Blues forward David Klemmer put Corey Parker in the spotlight after Game II but there's one NSW player that the Maroons lock will have a special affinity for on Wednesday night.
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Parker couldn't help but notice the similarities between himself and Cronulla hooker Michael Ennis, who looks likely to replace Robbie Farah in the Blues line-up on Wednesday, though a final decision will wait until Tuesday.
The Broncos backrower was the beneficiary of his own return from the representative fringes, donning a Maroons jersey in 2011 after a six-year absence.
Parker has become a Queensland mainstay since then, missing just two games in the past four years.
"It's funny how football works at times," he said.
"You just keep plodding away doing your job and hoping at some stage you might get a good opportunity."
Ennis has been a popular face of the "players everyone loves to hate" campaign through his career at the Bulldogs and then Cronulla, but Parker said the veteran was a little bit misunderstood.
"He's very misunderstood, largely due to you guys. At times we can all be misunderstood," he said.
"He's one of those guys you hate to play against but love to play with and there's a lot of those people out there.
Parker had less empathy for any misconceptions around Blues forward Klemmer, with whom he had a fiery battle in Game II, though he played down the significance of their reunion.
"I don't think I'd use the words that you'd use: 'another round'," he said.
"If you want to focus on one guy like David you're going to miss a couple of other fair players that they've got in their forward pack."
The Queenslanders have spent most of the week speaking about focusing on football over white noise and chatter and Parker joined that chorus on Monday.
"If you get bogged down in trying to play games instead of the game that is rugby league you can tend to get off track," he said.
"The game itself is being built to be one of the biggest games of recent time, so give it the respect it needs there."
Queensland's players have a day off before heading to Brisbane for final preparations ahead of Wednesday's deciders.
With no major injury concerns, the Maroons have had a smooth on-field preparation for the decider and they have rallied around captain Cameron Smith, who was slammed by former Newcastle Knights player Alex McKinnon in a 60 Minutes interview on Sunday night.
