IT WAS 2am yesterday before the NSW team held their own man-of-the-match ceremony at their team hotel following the comprehensive victory over Queensland.

Five-eighth Greg Bird, with his hard-hitting, direct style, was the official best on ground, an award chosen by the Australian selectors and presented on Channel Nine.

Coach Craig Bellamy was obviously a fan of the performance of his 25-year-old, two-try hero, left-winger Anthony Quinn, telling the large media contingent: "He was outstanding. It's not often you say a winger was the best player but he was near the top."

Captain Danny Buderus won the plaudits of many for his self-sacrificial style, taking on the Queensland pack, particularly relishing any opportunity to clash with his opposite, Cam Smith.

But the NSW players were united in their choice: centre Mark Gasnier, whose three line-breaks for 185 metres complemented the two tries he created at critical times and kept the Blues clear of Queensland. Yet as deserving as Gasnier was for his stellar play, it was hard to escape the notion his teammates were sending him a message: don't go to France.

In accepting the award, Gasnier spoke of the bonds the Blues have already forged and their determination to come back from Brisbane with the series decided.

Queensland will be more resolute foes on their home turf. Favouritism doesn't sit well with them. Before the ANZ Stadium match, they tried to position themselves as underdogs by complaining about the Blues having a wrestling coach, protested that Sydney's poor crowds did not justify hosting an Origin game and whined that the surface was too slippery.

All this was a distraction for their chief concern: they don't like playing at Homebush Bay, an admission they made to Queensland members of the Team of the Century when they dined with Noel Kelly, Wally Lewis and their own coach, Mal Meninga, on Monday night.

Meninga knows the Queensland psyche needs a Moreton Bay fig-sized chip on the shoulder, telling the assembled media post-match with a grin: "Maybe we'll go into game two as underdogs."

Meninga erred in pairing centre Greg Inglis and winger Israel Folau on the left-hand side, seeking a Melbourne combination to balance the former Broncos pairing of Justin Hodges and Brent Tate on the right. However, Bellamy correctly predicted Folau, only 19, would be uncomfortable playing away from his usual right side, just one small piece of information in a preparation the Blues said was outstanding.

With the dangerous running duo of Inglis and Folau on the left, it could be assumed the NSW plan was to kick away from them, even if it allowed fullback Billy Slater to take many of the kicks of Blues halfback Peter Wallace on the full.

Blues assistant coach Andrew Johns, the Team of the Century halfback who was responsible for tutoring Wallace's kicking game, dismissed this.

"The plan was just to kick to space," he said. "But today's wingers are so tall and fast and pendulum so well, how do you find it?"

True. When a ball is travelling 40m through the air and you have receivers with such agility they appear spring-loaded, it's near impossible to land it on vacant turf. Wallace had 19 kicks, the second most in Origin football since 2004. What a gamble by the selectors for the most important game to date this year to hang on so young a toe!

Wallace may not have been Bellamy's first choice halfback but NSW selector Bob Fulton liked what he saw in the City-Country match when the former Penrith five-eighth came on as a replacement. City coach Tim Sheens wisely instructed Wallace to simply run from dummy half, rather than create play as first receiver. It was an unexpected demand in a higher-tier game.

Fulton reasoned that if Wallace could show instant maturity executing an unaccustomed role in his first representative game, he could take the step to Origin football.

Bellamy also contributed to Wallace's easy introduction to the frenetic demands of this annual battle between the states by ordering Wallace to take his first clearing kick on the fourth tackle, thereby relieving him of the pressure of executing it on the last.

So comprehensive was the Blues' preparation, Bellamy actually predicted some of the match statistics as the details were being relayed to him hours afterwards. Told that only one member of the Queensland starting pack made over 75m, he replied, "That would be Petero."

True. Civoniceva made 123m, while Nate Myles from the bench made 156m. He also was able to nominate the Queenslander with the most missed tackles. Five-eighth Karmichael Hunt made 16 but missed five. The Sydney punter who lost $700,000 backing the Maroons should ask Bellamy to do his numbers next time.