Despite the criticism New South Wales halves Jack Wighton and Mitch Moses have received, Blues' coach Brad Fitler has defended his halves pairing in the wake of the 20-18 game 3 loss.
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The duo was under a lot of pressure to perform in the third game of the series and regular halves Nathan Cleary and Jarome Luai were both unavailable.
"I thought they were great," Fitler said.
"Mitchell's [Moses] defence was great, they threw a lot at him. And Jack [Wighton] scored a try.
"It's hard to tell who stood out for us but a lot of blokes were working really hard."
The Maroons struck first at Cbus Super Stadium, scoring through a penalty kick to Valentine Holmes in the 5th minute.
Latrell Mitchell cashed first try scorer bets in the 10th minute as the Blues took a 6-2 lead, before Hamiso Tabuai Fidow allowed Queensland to poke their noses in front again at 8-6.
There wouldn't be a point scored for the next half-an-hour, until Jack Wighton powered over the line to start the second half and give New South Wales a 12-8 lead that would be hard to peg back.
But, the Maroons worked their way back in front as Ben Hunt scored a relatively easy try out of dummy half in the 57th minute, before notching another four-pointer just five minutes later.
With the scores at 20-12, Apisai Koroisau beat Kalyn Ponga to a Moses grubber, giving the Blues a sniff at 20-18 with 10 to go.
Despite several attacking chances, New South Wales failed to score again and their chances were rendered dead when Latrell Mitchell missed a penalty goal from 50 metres out.
"There were big periods where the game was in play," he said.
"Everyone was pretty fatigued out there. I thought a few decisions were a bit dodgy, but we had three attacking sets at their line... they were the better side."
Fittler spoke about the huge number of NSW supporters that made the trip to the game.
"It's a shame we couldn't win for them, it is what it is," he said.
"It's very encouraging to turn up and see so many Blues jerseys there until the end."
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