Maroons coach Billy Slater has paid tribute to his team's ability to adjust on the run and handle adversity when skipper Cameron Munster was forced off the field for a HIA in Origin Two.
After being jumped by the Blues and trailing 12-2, the Maroons conjured a superb team try to pull back to 12-8 in the 27th minute but lost their inspirational leader in the process.
Munster landed heavily on his head after offloading in the lead-up to the Trent Loiero try and was called from the field for a head injury assessment.
It was a moment that could have unsettled the Maroons but rather they steadied and went to the break down by just four points and hatched a plan for a second-half blitzkrieg that yielded 36 points - the most points in a half in Origin history.
"The conversation at half-time was about getting our game right, not one or two individuals or any particular group, it's about a collective," Slater said in the wake of the 44-24 triumph that levelled the series.
From the field: Cameron Munster
"We handled that to the best of our ability and off the back of that we went out in the second half and really chased our game.
"I spend a fair bit of time on contingencies - some soft contingencies and some hard contingencies - and that was a soft one.
"Rather than make a change with our fourth interchange player we thought we could just make that soft one and the guys did a really good job around that.
"We have 19 team leaders in our team and everyone is accountable and has a role and when we get it right we are hard to handle."
Trent Loiero Try
Few among the record Origin crowd of 91,671 could have imagined just how right Slater's men would get it in the second term as they piled on six tries to set up a mouth-watering decider on July 8 at Suncorp Stadium.
Chief among the destroyers was halfback Sam Walker, who picked up man of the match honours in just his second Origin match.
"Sam is so humble and so respectful but he oozes confidence in his own ability," Slater said.
"The more time I spend with Sam the more I understand the greatness of his game.
"He just handles pressure situations. Like that try off the scrum [to Selwyn Cobbo], he is in a pressure situation there and he handles it with calmness and with skill.
Sam Walker named Player of the Match
"He works so hard on his game, that's why he has a medal around his neck.
"If you want to be good at something, you spend some time on it, and he spends a lot of time on his goalkicking so you get rewarded for the work."
The Maroons now find themselves in a similar scenario to 2024, locked at 1-1 and heading to their sacred patch at Suncorp with a chance to claim the series.
Back in 2024 they were unable to complete the job, the Blues prevailing 14-4 in the decider, but there is an air of confidence in Camp Maroon that nothing can faze them and that they have the firepower to blow NSW off the park when everything clicks as it did at the MCG.
