THEY came, they saw, and quite remarkably, their team conquered. Facing the prospect of being stripped of State of Origin matches, NSW fans largely responded, and facing the prospect of a third series defeat, the Blues returned the favour.
And better still, the 18-10 victory was very Queensland-like. With the Maroons having won four of the past five Origin matches, and boasting a backline already receiving "best ever" calls despite its relative youth, the Blues were underdogs both to win the match and the series, however as generally happens in this type of rugby league, favouritism means very little.
It used to be the Maroons who thrived on this scenario, however after their era of dominance it was the Blues forced into blooding newcomers.
And how they responded. It was truly a debutant's ball. Halfback Peter Wallace had a hand in two of the Blues' tries, and his kicking game was almost faultless, while winger Anthony Quinn scored two himself and came up with a wonderful tackle on his Melbourne teammate Billy Slater to deny the Maroons. Interchange forward Anthony Laffranchi was a key man in the third try with an offload from his first touch and scored the fourth.
It all came after a match-eve call from the ARL for NSW fans to swarm to ANZ Stadium or see games handed to Melbourne or - worse - Brisbane. A crowd of 67,620, not a sellout but better than feared, turned up.
The Blues didn't have it all their own way. Queensland produced a piece of play in the second half which brought back memories of Maroons centre Mark Coyne's famous try in 1994. The only difference was the result. The play started with fullback Billy Slater fielding the ball inside his own quarter, and ended with another centre in Justin Hodges being brought down just a few metres from the NSW line.
It was tough and willing. Queensland five-eighth Karmichael Hunt smashed Blues second-rower Ryan Hoffman with three hits that would have been felt in the next postcode. Hunt made it look like a scene from Underbelly. But it ended in Blue Murder.
