Despite being a relative outcast before finally being recalled by Blues coach Brad Fittler, Maloney was in everything - good and bad - as NSW absolutely routed the Maroons, winning 38-6 in abhorrent conditions at Perth's Optus Stadium.

The St Joseph's-Sheahan junior laid on two of the Blues' six tries, kicked three conversions and nailed two second-half penalty goals too, shifting from five-eighth to halfback seamlessly once the injured Nathan Cleary went off as well.

Along with Maloney, Manly superstar Tom Trbojevic helped steer the victory with NSW's first Origin hat-trick since 2005, while Josh Addo-Carr crossed for a double in front of the bumper 59,721-strong crowd as well.

"It's awesome, the boys had a really big game, everyone played a part. We backed ourselves to play footy and didn't back away from the physical confrontation," Maloney said, moments after his side forced the 2019 series to decider at Sydney.

Orange's Jack Wighton was strong in his shift to the centres too, a much-maligned move considering he took the spot from Roosters ace Latrell Mitchell.

Although he was the cause for Queensland's only points - a first-half penalty try - Wighton was dangerous on the left edge, and produced a game-high five tackle breaks.

With Maloney a lock for game three now it appears, incredibly, he may well reunite in the halves with Newcastle pivot Mitchell Pearce, who looks set to be sent an SOS thanks to Cleary's injury.

Although Fittler was over the moon with Wade Graham's performance at five-eighth after Cleary came off, Pearce looks to the obvious choice considering the NSW coach's interest in him for games one and two and his form at club level.

Granted, Fittler said he's hopeful Cleary recovers from his ankle injury before the July 10 decider, which would rule out the need to shift things around at all.

"Hopefully, it's on the lighter side," Fittler said of Cleary's stint on the sidelines, before heaping praise on Maloney.

"James got us the win. He just steered us around."I didn't have to talk at half time because he was talking. He's just a winner. He just finds a way to win.

Fittler also said he never expected Sunday's game to become such a rout, but conceded there's one more job to be done next month.

"You never envisage something like that," Fittler said.

"Once we got ahead the (rainy) conditions really helped us, because we were very confident and the scoreline was in our favour."