The 21-year-old Roosters flyer was seemingly involved in everything for the Blues scoring a try while making several key errors as everything he touched turned to either gold or stone.

Just nine days after fearing the worst when he suffered a neck injury at club level against Penrith, Mitchell turned out for the Blues determined to play his role in helping the Baby Blues end Queensland's near 13-year Origin dominance.

He engaged in a running verbal battle throughout with Will Chambers, and the pair came together on several occasions throughout the contest in an absorbing contest.

Mitchell outfoxed him one on one early in the second half, scoring from close range.

But their battle had started long before that when Mitchell enthusiastically but illegally dragged the Melbourne Storm centre over the touchline after the tackle was completed.

As Queensland threatened midway through the second half with the Blues leading by eight points, Mitchell came up with a bell ringing tackle on Cameron Munster to snuff out any danger.

For a moment he had the ball on a string and most of the 82,223 fans eating out of the palm of his hand.

But then he went from the penthouse to the basement.

He lost possession of the ball while hurriedly taking a 20m tap, gifting Queensland a perfect opportunity.

Chambers scored in the following set, pegging the score in his running battle with Mitchell back to one-all.

With four points the difference and the match wearing on, Mitchell was at it again tearing down the left after shrugging Ben Hunt aside, only for his flick pass to and up over the sideline.

Mitchell was one of 10 of Brad Fittler's second gamers on Sunday night, and the rookies were brilliant in ushering what Freddy hopes will, at long last, be a new Origin era.

NSW had just 55 games of Origin experience between them compared with Queensland's 119, but this new generation has validated Fittler's sweeping selection changes.

In his second match winger Josh Addo-Carr started slowly but turned it around, scoring a try of his own and making several key plays in defence. On 25 minutes he stepped inside two defenders to open the scoring for NSW.

He also produced a brilliant covering tackle with James Tedesco late on to deny flying debutant Kalyn Ponga.

Second gamer Jack de Belin was strong in defence and produced the tackle which led to Mitchell's try, taking hold of Ben Hunt and forcing an error to win back possession in an attacking position.

Nathan Cleary and James Roberts were shaky early on down the right in defence but they tightened up midway through the first half to frustrate Queensland. Cleary also produced a try-saving tackle on Valentine Holmes with eight minutes and 30 seconds left on the clock to keep the Blues in the game, while Roberts was in the sin bin.

Early on it looked like Fittler's Blues revolution was suffering from a serious case of second-game syndrome as the Maroons raced to a 10-0 lead.

For all the pre-game hype which had NSW as the shortest-priced favourites in history, the script already written by so many desperate fans who were ready to rejoice in just a second series win since 2005, this was still a serious mismatch in terms of Origin experience.

But a new era has begun.