Welcome back State of Origin. We've missed you.
Wednesday night's so-called dead rubber had everything that made us fall in love with this wonderful concept.
Genuine hate, genuine spite and a genuine contest.
All in a game that supposedly meant nothing.
The Maroons won an enthralling contest 23-18 to claim their first series clean sweep since 1995.
A tremendous achievement from a very special side.
The Blues, like last year, saved their best 'til last and can at least say they went the distance.
Before kick-off NSW fans thought they knew what was coming, sensing another night of humiliation and torment at the hands of Queensland.
Many hid at home or congregated in quiet corners of the local pub reminiscing about the days when Origin was a fair dinkum contest.
When you couldn't predict a winner with any surety, even down to the 79th minute.
A friend spent two days in the lead-up to this game trying to offload four tickets FOC, as in free of charge.
He texted, rang and emailed every footy nut he knew.
He may as well have been giving away asbestos sheeting.
Why would any NSW fan put himself through this?
It was a question Craig Bellamy must have been asking himself as the first of the 367 f-words sprayed from his mouth.
All week he had banged on about not giving Queensland opportunities through unforced errors.
They listened …for all of 10 seconds.
Paul Gallen spilt the ball on just the second tackle, the Blues immediately in a familiar position – on the back foot and scrambling to defend their line.
They held on that time, only to commit another fundamental mistake a few minutes later to find themselves right back in the poo.
This time Mitchell Pearce failed to find touch from a penalty.
The Maroons don’t require invitations, they just turn up.
After 20 minutes they cracked the NSW line for the first time.
Then the Blues kicked out on the full from the kick off. Cue more expletives from the coach's box.
Eight minutes later the Maroons were in again.
Gallen, somehow left out of game one, breathed life into the contest when he charged over five minutes before the break.
Darren Lockyer's 45m field goal took Queensland's lead out to seven but NSW was still in the game at half-time.
How? Some questions just can’t be answered.
The second half was all NSW. It was like the sides had swapped jerseys.
Kurt Gidley – or 'Kirk' Gidley as the scoreboard labelled him – scored seven minutes in after the ball was kept alive for what seemed an hour.
But for the next 22 minutes it appeared Lockyer's speculative field goal was going to prove the difference.
NSW pounded the Maroons line, and when that didn’t work, they pounded the Blues.
Israel Folau and Michael Jennings got into a disagreement, Greg Bird and Willie Tonga joined in proceedings while Sam Thaiday charged in at Jennings' unprotected ribs like a battering ram.
Wasn't it the Blues who were supposed to be the cheap shot merchants?
Anthony Watmough crossed in the 65th minute only for Billy Slater to wrap his arms around him like a maroon octopus to somehow prevent the ball from being grounded.
This try was never going to come.
Eleven minutes from time it eventually did, Bird trailing a Mick Ennis grubber to touch down.
The Blues led for the first time – and the last.
Two late Queensland tries ended any hope of NSW salvaging something from a largely
forgettable series.
But at least NSW supporters can show their faces tomorrow.
This time their team had a red-hot dig. The walk away beaten, but having played their part in a real classic.