Delete the obituaries for the Brad Fittler-era Blues -- not that many, if any, could have been written with any real conviction, such was the complete lack of drums beating for the coach's job, even after game two's disaster.
Instead, through wholesale changes, a greater desire to chance their arm in attack and a spirit that was lacking in Brisbane a couple of weeks ago, a clean sweep is avoided and hope renewed for next season.
The unique futility of the Blues' situation is relevant, too While some five-year plans to get to a Grand Final can take more than a decade at club level, that's not the case for New South Wales. For better or worse, they'll be in the 'Grand Final' next year, no matter how catastrophic the past two years may seem, they can be fixed in a flash. And after tonight, things obviously look brighter.
Fittler's words after the game gave no indication that he was going anywhere -- he went short of guaranteeing he'd be sticking around, but it's hard to see it playing out any other way. At the very least, it was an infinitely less frosty press conference than had he been trying to explain his way out of a 3-0 drubbing.
So while the war was already lost, the battle won is probably enough for the coach to fight another day -- but it was how straightforward the victory seemed that was perhaps most puzzling.
The opening ten minutes was a microcosm of where these two teams are as a whole -- the Blues toiled, and toiled, and toiled, only for Queensland to get up the other end and immediately capitalise.
This is when in days past, New South Wales would wilt - but that early setback was just a speed bump.
Instead, every roll of the dice the coach took paid off. The left-field selection, Bradman Best, was vindicated where Fittler's gambles in the first two games weren't.
The rest of the debutants or returnees each proved their worth to varying effect. Cody Walker in particular, was outstanding, as every dangerous attack was kickstarted by the new-look left edge.
If you didn't want to be negative, you'd question why Walker wasn't there from the start of the series. You'd also wonder why they didn't get early ball out to their outside backs with such enthusiasm in games one and two.
But there's no sense dwelling on the past, because that's what a state that "Doesn't Get Origin" would do.
You can argue that a dead rubber means more freedom and less culpability for the likes of Walker, Mitch Moses, and others like skipper James Tedesco -- but the former two need to now firmly be in the conversation for next year's opener regardless of the health of Nathan Cleary, and the latter should, at the very least, keep the wolves from howling at the door for a while longer.
Many thought a clean sweep was a fait accompli, a surprisingly full Stadium Australia didn't -- but even the most parochial of Blatchy's many Blues would be staggered at the relative ease with which New South Wales took care of business, as the only thing up in the air with five to go was how many security guards the pitch invader could get past (not many, as it turned out).
Instead, it was the Maroons trying a trick play from the kick-off with almost an hour still to play. It was the Maroons who broke clean through the middle of the field but had the last pass go to ground. It was the Maroons who lacked discipline, who lacked fight, and lost the game -- the death blow coming when Val Holmes butchered a gift try with eight minutes to go.
In the end that doesn't matter for 2023. There were questions since the night of Game Two as to how much intensity Queensland would be able to muster with the stakes so low. But regardless of all of that, they were thoroughly outplayed.
It would have been a tough sell to run it back with Fittler in 2024 on the back of a clean sweep, but now that's an issue the NSWRL doesn't need to concern themselves with. Three wins in six years with a clear talent advantage is still not a pass mark, but tonight's brave selections and play style yield hope for the future.
The real question is, if they'll be able to bottle this performance and take it with them until next year. We're going to have to wait a long time to find out.