Queensland were never supposed to win the 2025 State of Origin series.
That was the popular belief before the series got underway, and it was hammered home after they lost Game 1 on home soil in Brisbane.
But in typical Queensland fashion, the men from north of the Tweed found a way, winning in Perth for the first time, before claiming the decider on emeny territory as the Blues had done to them last year.
New stars were unearthed, but the backs to the wall effort from Queensland has left plenty of comparisons to 1995.
Billy Slater said though that his side took no notice of the supposed narrative though, and said it was actions on the field which determine Origin series.
"Well firstly. Who is saying you're not supposed to [win]? At the end of the day, it's your actions on the field that do the talking. Not what you write during the week, or what you say on shows. I'm a part of that. I get the attention of the game, we create excitement and all that sort of stuff, but at the end of the day, that doesn't mean anything," Slater said.
"It's the actions out on the field and when a group of players believe in each other and believe in what they want to go out and achieve together, that's pretty powerful."
The coach was then asked point blank to compare the series win to 1995, and admitted it was right up there.
"There has been a fair bit going on. It is a true Queensland team. It has been a true Queensland performance. That's no disrespect to anyone else. You look over the history of this footy team. 95 in partcular. No Super League players. I think Ben Ikin was 17, players out of reserve grade, to win that first game 2-0, a whole heap of resillience, they spent a lot of time on their tryline," Slater said when asked to compare to 1995," the head coach said.
"That's something we dove in to. The way they went about it. Not the result, but the way they went about it and we appreciated that, and I saw that out there tonight. I saw that out there tonight. That resillience on the tryline, that was pretty special, so it's right up there."
The win will go down as one of the most famous in Queensland history, with Game 3 a perfect rugby league performance.
It extends Queensland strong record in deciders, but didn't come without its risks.
Slater elected to drop captain Daly Cherry-Evans after Game 1, and then recalled the retired Josh Papalii for Game 3, with the Maroons playing a perfect game to win the series.
"Pre-game, you talk pretty general, but when we talk about getting our game on and finding our best footy, it's pretty similar to what that first half looked like," Slater said.
"The effort, the togetherness, that's where it all starts. The points come, they go, so it was an inspiring performance.
"I'm so proud of this group. I've been proud of this group a number of times over the last four years, and I don't know if I've been any more proud than tonight. There have been a lot of hurdles to overcome, it's an incredible feeling and I'm sure five and a half million people feel the same."
