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Origin 3 man of the match: Who was man of the match in State of Origin Game 3 2018 Queensland Maroons vs NSW Blues

(Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
11th July, 2018
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Billy Slater of the Queensland Maroons has been named man of the match in Game 3 of the 2018 State of Origin Series at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday night, July 11.

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Slater was the man of the hour in Game 3, as he held the unusual distinction of skippering the side for the first time in what will also be his last game.

He announced before the 2018 series that it would be his last, with Queensland already having been hit with the retirements of Cameron Smith, Johnathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk before the series began.

Smith’s retirement left the Maroons in need of a new skipper and South Sydney’s Greg Inglis was picked as their next captain before the series began.

Inglis captained the Maroons to two losses before a broken thumb ruled him out of the final match, and Slater was asked to step up to the plate.

He played an excellent match and came remarkably close to scoring on two occasions, but just missed out both times.

Other good performances for the Maroons included Valentine Holmes with two tries, Cameron Munster and the controversial selection of the night Daly Cherry-Evans.

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Meanwhile James Tedesco, Damien Cook, Josh Addo-Carr and Tom Trbojevic were all impressive for NSW.

Slater was also awarded the Wally Lewis medal in something of a surprise decision, given that he only played two out of three games in the series.

Tedesco arguably would have been a more deserving winner given the key role he played across all three games in delivering a series win for NSW.

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