After watching such an enthralling do-or-die clash at ANZ last night, the question on everyone's lips was "Who will be Man of the Match?".

With no clear standouts, unlike Fifita and Tedesco in Game 1, some pundits were on Josh McGuire for his 49 tackles, 114 metres, and one line-break, while fellow Queenslander Dane Gagai deserved credit for his 2 tries, 189 metres and 8 tackle busts.

On the New South Wales side of things, Jake Trbojevic in only his second Origin match notched up 26 tackles, 114 metres, and a sublime line break assist to put Tedesco through for the Blues' third try.

But the honours surprisingly went to Blues' second-rower Josh Jackson. With 26 tackles and 10 hit-ups for 67 metres. Jackson, whilst not topping any stats column, did the job asked of him and held up his own.

However, the most surprising element was that a Blues player received the award at all. Not since Game 2 of 1991, has a player from the losing side won the Man of the Match award. This marks only the fifth instance in Origin history. 

In the inaugural match of 1982, Mal Meninga claimed the honours despite a Blues win. Three years later, Wally Lewis was deemed best on ground despite the Maroons going down by 7 points. Peter Sterling, two years after, was Man of the Match in the Maroons' 12-6 win. Finally, Steve Walters in 1991 won the honours despite his Maroons getting done 24-22.

Interestingly, in both drawn Origin matches (Game 3 of 1999 and 2002), a Queenslander was deemed Man of the Match (Wendell Sailor and Darren Lockyer respectively)

So Josh Jackson can hold his head up high after a gutsy performance, knowing he is in the company of players like Meninga, Lewis and Sterling.

Who doesn't like the feeling of playing well in a beaten team?

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