Queensland's Papa almost saved them, but it wasn't enough to stop NSW's Teddy. And finally the monkey is off Mitchell Pearce's State of Origin back.
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Blues fullback James Tedesco scored his second try in the dying seconds to give NSW back-to-back series wins for the first time since 2005.
It gave the Blues a 26-20 victory over Queensland in front of a sellout crowd of 82,565 at ANZ Stadium on Wednesday night.
Not surprisingly, Tedesco was the Wally Lewis player of the series with his try that broke Queensland's hearts.
"It's massive, just to speak to all the boys after that it's an unbelievable feeling, especially for some of the boys' first Origin series," Tedesco said.
"To win it here in front of this crowd is just amazing."
The win gave much-maligned NSW halfback Pearce his first Origin series win in his eighth attempt.
He played a role in Tedesco's try, getting the ball out wide for Blake Ferguson to make a break down the wing.
That came just seconds after Canberra Raiders prop Josh Papalii barged over to score the try that made extra time look a certainty, with Origin debutant Ethan Lowe calmly slotting the conversion.
Papalii's fellow Maroons big bopper Josh McGuire had scored in similar fashion to give the Maroons hope after the Blues appeared to wrap up the game.
That was largely due to Tedesco.
His break just before half-time led to Canberra product Paul Vaughan scoring before his pace and power put the Blues in front in the second half.
A Damien Cook dart out of dummy half appeared to have iced it at 20-8 before the Maroons fought back.
Queensland fullback Cameron Munster was outstanding for the visitors and while he made a case to be best on ground, he wasn't even the best fullback following Tedesco's heroics.
Given they had all the momentum, Munster was expecting to win.
"To be honest, I thought we had them. It just shows you what Origin's like," he said.
"If you're just slow or a little bit lazy they can really make you hurt and they did that tonight. It's frustrating. I'm pretty disappointed with the way it went."
Maroons utility Michael Morgan will undergo concussion protocols after he was knocked out by some McGuire friendly fire.
AT A GLANCE
NSW BLUES 26 (James Tedesco 2, Paul Vaughan, Damien Cook tries; James Maloney 5 goals) bt QUEENSLAND MAROONS 20 (Felise Kaufusi, Josh McGuire, Josh Papalii tries; Ethan Lowe 4 goals) at ANZ Stadium. Referees: Gerard Sutton, Ashley Klein. Crowd: 82,565.