NSW 6 Queensland 10

JUST 12 months after being in crisis and staring down the barrel of a fourth successive series loss, Queensland last night broke their Telstra Stadium hoodoo to consign NSW to their worst sequence of defeats since the late 1980s.

The Maroons also almost certainly ended the representative careers of several senior Blues players. While their first win at the stadium in 12 outings was by just a 10-6 scoreline, the Maroons dominated the game through their unyielding defence in a performance skipper Darren Lockyer described as "the gutsiest I've been involved with".

The winning try, scored by Steve Bell in the 64th minute, featured a forward pass from Carl Webb to Steve Price before Johnathan Thurston grubbered for the veteran Manly centre, but even Blues players in a dressing room captain Danny Buderus described as "the lowest" he'd experienced conceded that the Maroons deserved the series victory.

Referee Shayne Hayne, in his first Origin match, awarded Queensland one penalty all game and it came just moments before the try when Luke Bailey - playing the ball - grabbed the leg of Price and knocked him off his feet, although Buderus suggested Price may have taken a dive.

After being criticised by both camps, Hayne may struggle to maintain the job in Origin III - but he won't be the only one.

Under the threat of the axe if the Blues suffered a fourth consecutive defeat - to enable Queensland to claim back-to-back series wins - Buderus and Test forwards Willie Mason, Buderus, Nathan Hindmarsh and Andrew Ryan turned in improved performances. Whether it was enough to save their positions is uncertain.

Already seven Blues rookies have been tried in this series and there will be more in Brisbane.

Wests Tigers hooker Robbie Farah, who can kick out of dummy half like man-of-the-match Cameron Smith, Cronulla forward Paul Gallen, St George Illawarra lock Ben Creagh, Manly second-rower Anthony Watmough and Parramatta winger Eric Grothe are all likely to come into contention.

Newcastle pair Kurt Gidley and Jarrod Mullen may also be recalled. Five-eighth Braith Anasta will be ruled out after breaking his hand and will have surgery to insert a pin today.

NSW coach Graham Murray has said that he didn't expect to be re-appointed next year if the Blues lost the series and Melbourne's Craig Bellamy and Tim Sheens of the Tigers have already been linked to the job.

Asked if he would like to see the team retained for Origin III, Murray said: "They gave it everything they possibly could. Every one of those 17 out there tried their butts off."

But Buderus said that NSW had to do something to regain the ascendancy and acknowledged the players' fear of mass changes.

"I guess the momentum is for Queensland at the moment, but I can still remember this time last year people were saying Origin was dead and they came back to win the series. The challenge is out there for NSW now to get that shield back. We're scraping the barrel in there at the moment, a lot of effort went into that game so our heads are all over the shop.

"A lot of us haven't been involved in a dead rubber before so it's going to be a new experience and not a very pleasant one."

With a glut of second-half possession and good field position, Buderus said a NSW victory in the dying minutes would have been "the sweetest win of my career".

Instead it was the Maroons basking in the glory.

"I'm not quite sure how many sets they had on our line in the second half," Queensland coach Mal Meninga said. "It just comes from within, it comes from the team wanting to make sacrifices for each other and not wanting to let the team down or let themselves down."

Murray said there wasn't much between the two teams, and in the opening stages NSW were probably better as they skipped to an early 6-0 lead through an eighth-minute try to rookie fullback Brett Stewart, who dived over from dummy half after a Steve Simpson break.

But the Maroons hit back to level the scores in the 21st minute when Smith took on the defence and squeezed the ball out for winger Greg Inglis to field on the bounce and cross in the corner.

"I've probably got to give a rap to their defence, we had a lot of football down their end but they just held us out. They were pretty good on their line," Murray said.

Aside from Anasta, Maroons winger Brent Tate was the other major casualty after being forced from the field in the 60th minute with medial ligament damage.

QUEENSLAND 10 (G Inglis, S Bell tries; J Thurston goal) bt NSW 6 (B Stewart try; J Lyon goal) at Telstra Stadium. Crowd: 76,924. Referee: S Hayne.