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The NSW team played their hearts out, with Paul Gallen leading from the front. But the architect, and the heart and soul of a memorable State of Origin victory for the Blues, was their inspirational coach, Ricky Stuart.
If ever there was a victory that could be attributed to coaching magic, this second match in the 2011 State of Origin series, won by NSW 18-8, was it.
The first thing he instilled into his side for this second match was the belief that NSW not only had to win (that was obvious enough) but that they could and, indeed, would win.
As Phil Gould announced in an emotional on-field piece of oratory before the game, which was directed more to the crowd at the ground listening in than the television audience: ‘NSW has to BELIEVE that tonight is THE night.’
NSW clearly believed.
They came from behind at half-time to win, only the sixth time in the whole of the State of Origin series that this has been done. They weathered a searing attack at the beginning of the second half, then another attack again from Billy Slater midway through the half.
Then they got in front after a series of bombs, which Queensland did not detonate.
And instead of coughing up the lead in the dying minutes of the match, as they have done in the previous two matches, NSW put pressure on Queensland who finally cracked to let in a soft try (the sort of cracking under pressure that NSW has indulged in for some years).
The key to the victory was the play of Jamie Soward.
Here is a gifted player who is disliked by the NSW rugby league writers, especially those writing for The Daily Telegraph. He is uninterested in chatting to the media.
He is seen as a show pony who trots away from difficult situations. Stuart was roundly criticised for selecting him.
Soward’s defence, admittedly, is in the Quade Cooper category of ineffectiveness. But, like Cooper, he is a gifted player who can make the big plays in the toughest situations.
He was NSW’s X-factor player that the team has lacked since the days of Fittler and Johns.
He kicked a conversion from the sideline to give NSW the lead. Then he belted some huge kicks to give his side field position. And then he hoisted two enormous, pin-point bombs that were misfielded by Queensland.
A play or so later NSW had their tries from these Queensland mistakes.
When the teams lined up for the national anthem, it was obvious that NSW was a much smaller team than Queensland. Again coaching magic was involved in this.
I have always believed that 90 per cent of coaching success is attributable to selecting skills.
Stuart got his selections right: he brought back the old champion Anthony Minichiello, who played a blinder; William Hopoate, the second youngest State of Origin player, came in and played splendidly, as well as scoring a sensational try.
The experiment of playing Paul Gallen, big of heart but essentially a small (if stocky) man, in the front row worked. This experiment went against Stuart’s argument before the first State of Origin match that he did not believe in playing players out of their usual positions.
The smaller NSW pack was all over Queensland and in a crucial 30 minute period, when Petero Civoniceva was off the field, the pocket battleships blasted their bigger opponents out of the game.
These was a big risk in this tactic of using a small, tough and quick pack to defeat a big, tough and lumbering pack. That risk involved how the match was going to be refereed.
In the first State of Origin, the referees allowed the tacklers to stay on the ball runners for a long period of time, thereby creating a slow play-the-ball, which helped the bigger Queensland pack.
But this time, the referees got a much faster play-the-ball system, which helped the more mobile NSW pack.
Channel 9 showed shots of the dressing rooms at half-time.
In the Queensland dressing room, Mal Meninga, who was complacent all week, sat mute while the other coaches had their say. This confirmed for me that Meninga is more a figure-head than a coach.
In the NSW dressing room Ricky Stuart was belting out his message of inspiration.
If good selection is a key ingredient to success, especially before the match, then inspiration during the match can be very important, too. Stuart provided that inspiration for his team.
He conveyed to them his utter determination that NSW would win the match. And win it they did.
As I said earlier, it was coaching magic from Stuart that lifted his team to produce a terrific victory. Now the coach has to produce the magic one more time, in the cauldron of Suncorp Stadium, to stop Queensland from winning their sixth consecutive State of Origin series.
That would be the trick to beat all tricks.