And in an even bigger boost for the Green Machine, Papalii hopes his efforts for Queensland could springboard him into a big back half of the NRL season.

The 29-year-old was put on report for a high tackle during the game, but was cleared by the match review committee on Thursday.

Papalii was recovering from helping the Maroons win Origin III, having switched from one bubble to another.

He ran for 118 metres, made three tackle busts and 27 tackles in his 56 minutes of Origin work.

The go-forward Papalii and his fellow Queensland middles, like Tino Faasuamaleaui, provided went a long way to ensuring the Maroons didn't suffer a clean sweep at the hands of the NSW Blues.

It was his 20^th Origin game, giving him a fair bit of experience in knowing whether he should be able to back up against the Sharks on the Gold Coast on Saturday.

It's a crucial game for the 11th-placed Green Machine, who are one win behind eighth-placed Cronulla.

Raiders teammate and NSW Blues five-eighth Jack Wighton was also expected to back up on Saturday.

"I've got recovery with the team [on Thursday] when they get back from training," Papalii said.

"I'll go see the doctor and the physios and I'll see how I'm feeling [on Friday].

"I'm a bit sore and tired at the moment, but knowing myself I'll be ready to go Saturday."

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The Maroons' 20-18 win was bittersweet for Papalii - they finished with a win, but still lost the the series 2-1 to NSW.

This season has been a bit stop-start for Papalii, who was rested for round eight and was also suspended for three games - including missing Origin I.

But Papalii felt he was starting to hit his straps and the final Origin game could propel him into top form over the final seven rounds of the NRL campaign.

Since returning from his suspension, Papalii's averaging 175 run metres per game - well above this season's average of 145m - and he scored a try in the win over the Brisbane Broncos.

"It wasn't too bad. I feel like I'm starting to find some form after a slow start to the season," he said.

"I've finally found some rhythm and hopefully I can take some good form going into the back end of the season."

While Wighton received some criticism for his kicking game in the first half, Papalii felt the Blues five-eighth played well.

He was especially full of praise for Wighton's defence - as well as the try he scored as Papalii closed in to try to stop him.

It had the Raiders prop bemoaning the fact he didn't have more grass to enable him to bring him down - as he did when he produced that famous ankle tap on Gold Coast halfback Jamal Fogarty last year.

All up, Wighton ran for 115m, scored a try, laid off another for Latrell Mitchell, made six tackle busts and 27 tackles.

"He was good - very solid defensively, attack-wise he scored that try there," Papalii said.

"That's Jack though, that's the kind of footy he plays. He's not really a passer he's a runner and we expected that.

"Sometimes it's just hard stopping it even though you know what he's doing."

Papalii's young family is already up in Queensland, with his pregnant wife Masepa and their two children heading north as soon as the decision was made to relocate the Raiders and the 11 NRL clubs based in Greater Sydney for at least the next month.

Their third child's expected in about eight weeks, with Papalii excited by the prospect the birth will be in Queensland.

After two weeks in the bubble, it's hoped the NRL players will be free to move about in South-East Queensland under the same restrictions as the general public.

Papalii certainly hopes so - he's ensured his golf clubs have been packed and shipped north.

"I've been away for almost two weeks now and I've got to do another two before I get to see them," he said.

"Counting down the days."

NRL ROUND 18

Saturday: Canberra Raiders v Cronulla Sharks at the Gold Coast, 3pm.

Raiders squad: 1. Xavier Savage, 2. Semi Valemei, 3. Jarrod Croker, 4. Sebastian Kris, 5. Jordan Rapana, 6. Jack Wighton, 7. Sam Williams, 8. Josh Papalii, 9. Josh Hodgson, 10. Emre Guler, 11. Corey Harawira-Naera, 12. Hudson Young, 13. Ryan Sutton. Interchange: 14. Tom Starling, 15. Joseph Tapine, 16. Iosia Soliola, 17. Ryan James. Reserves: 18. Matthew Timoko, 19. Trey Mooney, 20. Matt Frawley, 21. Harley Smith-Shields.

Sharks squad: 1. Will Kennedy, 2. Sione Katoa, 3. Connor Tracey, 4. Jesse Ramien, 5. Ronaldo Mulitalo, 6. Braydon Trindall, 7. Shaun Johnson, 8. Aiden Tolman, 9. Blayke Brailey, 10. Aaron Woods, 11. Briton Nikora, 12. Teig Wilton, 13. Toby Rudolf. Interchange: 14. Mawene Hiroti, 15. Siosifa Talakai, 16. Jack Williams, 17. Braden Hamlin-Uele. Reserves: 18. Billy Magoulias, 19. Royce Hunt, 20. Andrew Fifita, 21. Luke Metcalf.