Blues take Origin series on Tedesco winner

In one of the most dramatic finishes in Origin history, scores were locked at 20-all in the final minute on Wednesday when Mitchell Pearce had the ball in his hands.

His looping cutout for Tom Trbojevic resulted in Blake Ferguson tiptoeing down the sideline, before finding Tedesco inside for the game-winner.

It came after Queensland forward Josh Papalii crossed in the 77th minute and debutant Ethan Lowe nailed a pressure conversion to level the game.

However, Tedesco, who was later awarded with the Wally Lewis medal as the player of the series, proved to be the hero with his miracle finish.

The dramatic ending snapped a run of seven straight defeats in Origin deciders for the Blues, dating back to the start of the Maroons' dynasty in 2006.

It is also Pearce's first series win over Queensland in eight attempts.

The extraordinary last-gasp play is certain to rival the famous Mark Coyne miracle try in game one of the 1995 series, ultimately won by the Blues.

"If he doesn't throw the ball out there and he doesn't spot the space, we're going into extra time," NSW coach Brad Fittler said.

"They were going better than us."

NSW appeared headed for a comfortable finish when Tedesco and Damien Cook broke an 8-all deadlock with tries in the space of nine minutes in the second half.

But the horrors of series past appeared to return after Queensland scored twice in the final eight minutes through Josh McGuire and Papalii.

When Lowe's conversion sailed through, Origin was seemingly set for its first golden point contest in front of a sellout 82,565 crowd at ANZ Stadium.

But Tedesco, the Kangaroos No.1, ensured it never got there.

"It was a pretty good feeling to score that try. It was pretty special to win the series last year but to win it again is magic," Tedesco told the Nine Network.

The Blues star turned the game three times, beginning with a 65-metre kick return in the 34th minute to set up the home side's first try.

It came after the Maroons' strong start that debutant Corey Norman converted into points, forcing a line dropout and then grubbering for Felise Kaufusi to score.

More Maroons pressure resulted in a penalty goal - one of 12 infringements ruled by the referees in a frustratingly stop-start contest.

However, Tedesco's kick return set up Paul Vaughan to level the game at halftime, before producing his memorable second-half display.

Maroons coach Kevin Walters was proud of his team's fightback .

But he rued a missed opportunity by skipper Daly Cherry-Evans to kick a field goal in the waning minutes, before opting to put up a bomb.

"He was set to do it, I could see body language," Walters said.

"But then we got the slow play-the-ball for some reason. No penalty given, which I haven't watched it too much. He just ran out of time.

"And when you do go for a field goal at that stage and you miss, you give seven tackles and you open yourself up for the opposition to get down your end.

"I'm not going to be critical of anyone tonight.

"I'm sitting here as a pretty proud Queenslander."

Maroons utility Michael Morgan failed to finish the game after a copping a stray elbow to the head from McGuire in the second half.

Australian Associated Press