I’ve finally taken the time to watch a replay of last week’s phenomenal State of Origin series decider and one question came to mind: can the players push the limits any further?

I don’t know how they can. It was as physical and brutal as any match I’ve seen. The old softening-up period didn’t last for 10 or 15 minutes, it kept going for close to 50 minutes. It’s just unheard of.

When you thought there was a time when they surely had to fatigue, they just kept going. And it was only in the last quarter of the game that we saw a few signs of tiredness, particularly when Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow got into the clear and he could barely pick his legs up. He was that tired.

Queensland were so brave in defence in the face of so much NSW possession, and you suspected it was going to take its toll at some stage. Thankfully for Blues fans, it came at the right moments. I thought they might have been a tad conservative at certain stages of the game, but the result is all that matters.

One player I want to single out is Jarome Luai. For years, I’ve heard Phil Gould and Brad Fittler talk about Luai being a halfback as a junior and then coming through the grade. I didn’t believe them. I was sceptical. But I was wrong. The Tigers have got themselves a serious........

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