For all the Blues achieved during this watershed series, it came without the cherry on top that was on offer in front of a packed Suncorp Stadium.

Captain Boyd Cordner became just the second NSW captain to lift the State Of Origin shield since 2005, but the moment was bittersweet as Queensland’s 18-12 win prevented the first Blues whitewash since 2000.

"It’s pleasing to get the series win, but it’s a bit empty, you know, losing tonight," Cordner said. "You can’t help but [feel] it takes the edge off it a bit. In saying that, I’m just really proud of what we achieved as a team this series. Allour hard effort got us the series win, but it puts a bit of a dampener on it losing tonight."

This was Billy Slater’s final match as a Maroon and the home side was determined to send him out a winner, even if he had to endure a rare series loss in his final foray for Queensland. Theydominated for the first 35minutes yet, remarkably, with NSW a man down, found themselves trailing at half-time.

As a series whitewash beckoned, Queensland defended their line staunchly, quashing any suggestion that a third Origin in an already decided series was a dead rubber.

NSW will still deservedly celebrate this series win, but the beer won’t taste as sweet as it might have.

And as rookie halfback Nathan Cleary has demonstrated throughout, the future looks bright for the men from NSW.

"It’s a bit of a weird feeling coming up here and getting a loss — it would’ve been much nicer with a win," Cleary said.

"Being able to hold the shield, nothing beats that. It’s pretty awesome. It takes a lot of work. We’ve all come from different clubs so hopefully in the future we can get a bit more time together and work on that.

"I can’t speak of Freddy highly enough, he really gets the boys to gel well and we’ve shown that on the field."

Despite Wednesday’s loss, Cordner remained supremely confident that NSW were on the verge of its own dominant Origin era.

"Over the years we haven’t had too much success, but every year I go into camp and pull on this jersey the support seems to get more and more," Cordner said.

"It just goes to show you what our state is all about and I’m just proud to be a New South Welshman. We should be proud of what we achieved for winning the series."