Captain Teddy stands tall as VB Hard Earned Player of Origin
James Tedesco's actions spoke the loudest in becoming the full-time Blues captain as the fullback powered to 2021 VB Hard Earned Player of State of Origin honours.
Formally replacing Boyd Cordner - regarded as one of the great leaders of the modern game - was no small task but Tedesco rose to the challenge and guided NSW to a famous 2-1 series win.
And while centre Tom Trbojevic won the Wally Lewis Medal as player of the series, Tedesco's energetic and constant contributions led him to rack up an aggregate VB index score of 229.
Tedesco opened the series with a score of 71, backed that up with 78 in his man of the match performance in Origin II and then produced a match-high 80 despite Queensland's victory in the finale.
The volume and quality of Tedesco's runs ensured he collected VB Hard Earned points.
In game three, the custodian took 24 carries and made eight or more metres 17 times, according to VB data.
The Roosters star also busted an incredible 12 tackles on Wednesday night as he tried in vain to help secure a rare series sweep.
Blues winger Brian To'o had a tremendous debut series and ranked second on the overall VB Hard Earned leaderboard with a total score of 194, pipping teammates Payne Haas (181) and Cam Murray (167).
Only two Maroons players cracked the top 10 - impressive bench prop Moeaki Fotuaika (152) in seventh place and tackling-machine second-rower Felise Kaufusi (133) in equal-ninth spot.
Murray, who was outstanding defensively on an edge for the Blues, scored 64 on Wednesday night to finish behind Tedesco while Fotuaika (62), NSW middle Dale Finucane (60) and Queensland bookend Josh Papalii (58) were immense at Cbus Super Stadium.
