New South Wales winger Brian To'o has clung onto Zero Tackle's 2025 State of Origin MVP by just a single vote ahead of the fast-finishing Tom Dearden.
Dearden claimed a perfect 20 votes in Game 3, but it wasn't enough to overthrow To'o, who claimed plenty of votes in the opening two games, and then found his way into the minor votes this time around.
Dearden is just one vote away from To'o, while Blues prop Payne Haas hangs onto third.
Dearden was joined at the top of the tree during Game 3 by Harry Grant, Tino Fa'asuamaleaui, Payne Haas, debutant Gehamat Shibasaki, Patrick Carrigan, Hamniso Tabuai-Fidow, Josh Papaplii and Xavier Coates as the other players to register any sort of votes during the series decider.
For each game in this State of Origin series, our panel - consisting of Matt Clements (Zero Tackle founder), Ethan Lee Chalk and Dan Nichols (Zero Tackle writers) and myself (Scott Pryde, Zero Tackle editor), will cast votes on a 5-4-3-2-1 system to determine the State of Origin MVP.
Here are the votes as they were awarded by our panel in Game 3.
Matt Clements
5 votes: Tom Dearden (QLD)
4 votes: Harry Grant (QLD)
3 votes: Tino Fa'asuamaleaui (QLD)
2 votes: Payne Haas (NSW)
1 vote: Gehamat Shibasaki (QLD)
Ethan Lee Chalk
5 votes: Tom Dearden (QLD)
4 votes: Patrick Carrigan (QLD)
3 votes: Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow (QLD)
2 votes: Brian To'o (NSW)
1 vote: Josh Papalii (QLD)
Dan Nichols
5 votes: Tom Dearden (QLD)
4 votes: Xavier Coates (QLD)
3 votes: Patrick Carrigan (QLD)
2 votes: Harry Grant (QLD)
1 vote: Brian To'o (NSW)
Scott Pryde
5 votes: Tom Dearden (QLD)
4 votes: Harry Grant (QLD)
3 votes: Patrick Carrigan (QLD)
2 votes: Tino Fa'asuamaleaui (QLD)
1 vote: Payne Haas (NSW)
Full Zero Tackle State of Origin MVP leaderboard after Game 3, 2025
1. Brian To'o (NSW) - 28 votes
2. Tom Dearden (QLD) - 27 votes
3. Payne Haas (NSW) - 22 votes
4. Zac Lomax (NSW) - 19 votes
5. Cameron Munster (QLD) - 17 votes
6. Harry Grant (QLD) - 13 votes
7. Patrick Carrigan (QLD) - 10 votes
8. Nathan Cleary (NSW) - 8 votes
9. Kurt Capewell (QLD) - 7 votes
10. Isaah Yeo (NSW) - 6 votes
=11. Tino Fa'asuamaleaui (QLD) - 5 votes
=11. Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow (QLD) - 5 votes
13. Xavier Coates (QLD) - 4 votes
14. Angus Crichton (NSW) - 3 votes
=15. Stephen Crichton (NSW) - 1 vote
=15. Dylan Edwards (NSW) - 1 vote
=15. Valentine Holmes (QLD) - 1 vote
=15. Latrell Mitchell (NSW) - 1 vote
=15. Josh Papalii (QLD) - 1 vote
=15. Gehamat Shibasaki (QLD) - 1 vote
I’m surprised HTF scored points from only one of the four panelists, and that Dan gave Xavier Coats any points. I though Coates was OK, but not a standout.