In most major sports events – grand finals, heavyweight boxing contests, State of Origin deciders – there’s usually a moment, equal parts exhilarating and appalling, where one combatant is rising and the other is falling. Everyone on the field, in the stands and watching at home senses the gravity shift. You’ve won or lost. It’s over.

On Wednesday night at Suncorp, NSW knew they’d won it with 10 minutes left on the clock. They had been outplayed in Game One only to steal the result with a final last-gasp play, but everyone knew the Blues had got what they deserved in the sequel in Melbourne, smashed 44-24, including a 36-point demolition in the second half.

Heading to Suncorp, where they had won just three series deciders in as many decades, they were written off. Now they had done what few outside the team thought possible and bullied the bullies in the deciding match, totally dominating the team that had embarrassed them all series to steal the 2026 State of Origin shield.

As the Maroons sagged with the realisation they’d saved their worst performance of the series for the biggest stage, the Blues exulted in knowing they’d done the reverse and saved the legacy of their besieged but beloved coach Laurie Daley. So, for a few exhilarating, appalling minutes NSW toyed with their broken foes, enjoying a slow kill.

Mitchell Moses had a scuffle on the ground with Cameron Munster. Isaah Yeo challenged a knock-on call against Tolutau Koula and won it. Mitch Barnett and Liam Martin gut-punched Queensland up the middle. Stephen Crichton rag-dolled Kalyn Ponga in goal. A smiling Hudson Young crossed for another try after the final siren.

But Nathan Cleary, the man most responsible for this incredible triumph had no intention of gloating. He moved quietly behind the lines, bleeding from his bandaged head, calmly finishing what he’d started and emphatically killing off the theory that the Australian playmaker and four-time premiership star had never “owned” Origin.

Cleary had orchestrated the Blues’ great escape in Sydney, calmly leading his team back from 0-20 in the first quarter to win it on the bell. By scoring a late try, kicking a crucial 40/20, and laying on two try assists to secure victory and win man of the match into the bargain, Cleary gave NSW a 1-0 series lead they didn’t truly deserve.

Game Two was a disaster. Cleary required painkilling injections for a hip injury and seemed hampered and harried all night. Halves partner Ethan Strange had been dropped and Cleary couldn’t find any alchemy with Mitchell Moses. He missed an Origin record 10 tackles in the game as the Queensland snatched back ascendancy.

A strange and noxious narrative had sprung up in the media: that Cleary, despite his four premierships with Penrith and his unquestioned status as the best halfback in Australia, had never “owned Origin”. It was a slur undeserving. Few players this century have risen to the big moments and major occasions better than Cleary.

Even so, Cleary copped the game two criticism on his formidable chin, describing his performance as “embarrassing” and walking into Suncorp last night with plenty to prove. After all, NSW had lost the three previous Origin deciders he’d played in. When asked his strategy for the crunch match, Cleary replied with ominous calm: “Control.”

He delivered that and more, scoring the first two tries of the game and calmly pulling the strings on a famous victory which had his fingerprints – and his blood - all over it. Cleary’s two tries and five goals outscored Queensland on his own and his solo strip on Maroons giant Selwyn Cobbo was symbolic of the epic heist he masterminded.

Cleary totally outclassed his Queensland opponent Sam Walker in the game that mattered most, making four tackle busts and a line break where the young Maroon could only break one. Cleary didn’t shirk his duties in defence last night either, laying 24 tackles to Walker’s 13. He ran further, kicked better and was a paragon of control.

In winning man of the match, Cleary joined two Blues legends, Peter Sterling and Andrew Johns, as a four-time recipient of the honour. He capped it by also claiming the Wally Lewis medal as player of the series. But for Cleary, who celebrated with girlfriend, Matilda’s star Mary Fowler, after the match, this was glory shared.

“He serviced his team beautifully (and) got them all playing to the best of their ability,” said former NSW coach Phil Gould. “He kicked them downfield… kicked his goals… scored the first couple of tries. What more do you want? He’s an outstanding Origin player, a champion footballer. Cometh the hour, cometh the champion.”