League: Maroons win put down to mateship

Mal Meninga. Photo / Getty Images

SYDNEY - Queensland coach Mal Meninga hailed his side's mateship in the State of Origin trenches with the first clean sweep of his historic five-year reign.

The Maroons capped their unprecedented era of Origin dominance by completing a 3-0 whitewash for the first time in their five straight series wins with a never say die 23-18 victory over a gallant NSW at ANZ Stadium.

"We just don't give in, that's part of our nature," Meninga said. "The character of this football side is second to none in my experience.

"Their belief is fantastic and their mateship, which is really important, is second to none as well.

"They'll do everything they possibly can for their mate to be successful."

Reluctant to declare his side the greatest Queenslanders ever after their final achievement, Meninga was relieved after four consecutive 2-1 series results.

"It takes the monkey off the back," he said. "It is a special occasion for us and we had to do it tough.

"We had to really dig deep and get in there and play for each other and come up with some really good decisions against a team that probably played the best they've played the last couple of years."

The Maroons notched their first series sweep since 1995 and the first in Origin since the Blues did it in 2000.

But it wasn't looking good for Queensland when NSW led 18-13 with 10 minutes on the clock before, as the Maroons had predicted, a moment of niggle proved the turning point.

A penalty against Blues hooker Michael Ennis after a scuffle with Nate Myles resulted in Maroons fullback Billy Slater slicing through to score with six minutes left. Johnathan Thurston added the extras to make it 19-18.

Willie Tonga iced the cake with a minute left on the clock.

"We had the series in the bag, it's probably pretty easy to just let it happen that way," captain Darren Lockyer said. "For this team to do what it did in the last seven, eight minutes is just a testament to what they're about."

The shattered Blues will now be subject to a sweeping review of their entire set-up with coaches, selectors and team management all in the firing line. But, just as they did after game three last year, NSW were looking positively towards the future.

The futures of Lockyer, captain Trent Barrett and NSW coach Craig Bellamy in Origin are all up in the air and all three were coy about their intentions.

Barrett said: "It is a pretty big high and then a pretty big low during the Origin series, you've got to get yourself up a hell of a lot."

- AAP