NRL
AAP 3y

State of Origin result bittersweet for Blues captain James Tedesco

NRL

Winning a State of Origin series despite having to play all three matches on enemy soil is undeniably a proud moment for NSW captain James Tedesco.

But the Blues' superstar won't lack motivation for next year's campaign after Wednesday's game three defeat on the Gold Coast cost his team the chance to seal a rare series sweep.

"It would have been really nice to get three wins up in Queensland and make it a clean sweep, but they're tough to do," Tedesco said.

"Obviously it hasn't been done many times and it shows it's difficult to get it done, obviously with three games in Queensland as well.

"We had a lot of things against us ... it's disappointing the way it ended but we're happy with the series win."

A two-time Dally M fullback of the year, two-time premiership winner and now a three-time Origin series winner, there's little that Tedesco hasn't achieved in his storied career.

The 28-year-old however believes he's leading a Blues team which can go one better in 2022 and secure just the eighth whitewash in Origin history.

Despite losing game three 20-18 to the Maroons, the 68-point margin across the three games between the teams is the biggest in Origin history.

It's a platform Tedesco is confident his team can build on, especially after Mitchell Moses and Jack Wighton had to be thrown into the halves with Penrith pair Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai injured.

"The team we have, the squad we've got as well, we've got a lot of depth," Tedesco said.

"Obviously we're missing our two halves and we got two halves that come in and did a really good job for us.

"I think NSW is in a really good place. So that's exciting for the next few years to build our team, to have others come through and put pressure on different spots is really good."

Queensland however are also confident they'll head into next year's series with added belief from their game three win.

The Maroons were embarrassed in games one and two but also had to deal with key absences such as those of Kalyn Ponga, Harry Grant, Josh Papalii, AJ Brimson and David Fifita at different points in the campaign.

The Ronaldo Mulitano eligibility farce on the day of game two and Jai Arrow's COVID-19 breach, which led to his unavailability for game three, also hindered Queensland's campaign.

Maroons' skipper Daly Cherry-Evans was proud of how his team responded after being widely criticised for their culture and effort following their games one and two humblings.

"We showed ourselves that they're very beatable," Cherry-Evans said.

"I know they did a fantastic job the first two games, you've got to give them credit for that, but we showed that we are a Queensland side that can take it to the Blues.

"They've won the series but that was a blueprint right there on how to play an Origin game. It's a real credit to everyone involved this week."

^ Back to Top ^