State of Origin decider live: Queensland Maroons stun the NSW Blues to claim the series in Game 3 in Sydney

Queensland has lifted for grieving skipper Cameron Munster to stun New South Wales 24-12 in the decider and claim the 2025 Origin series.

Munster played just days after the shock death of his father, winning a famous series in just his second game as the state's captain.

"So much love and appreciation to Cameron for the way he showed up tonight to play and how he handled this," hooker Harry Grant told ABC Sport.

"The only way we could repay him was through our actions to give him something to remember through this time.

"We played for him tonight."

Tom Dearden starred in a magical performance from the Maroons, winning the Wally Lewis Medal as player of the series.

It caps a remarkable ascension for Dearden, who debuted in the 2022 decider, missed 2023, stepped in for Munster in the 2024 series and replaced captain Daly Cherry-Evans as halfback after game one this year.

Follow all the action in our live blog below, check out all the stats in the full ScoreCentre, and tune in to our live radio coverage.

Key Events Noah Papali'i with the sweetest moment of the night 9 minutes ago Emotional Cameron Munster thanks his family after 'tough time' 27 minutes ago 'We played for him': Grant on great mate Munster 36 minutes ago Show all key events State of Origin III: Queensland Maroons 24-12 NSW Blues J By Jon Healy 'I just don't think that they came here with an Origin mindset': Gould S By Simon Smale Gus Gould is pretty disappointed on Channel Nine. "Naturally, people will start looking at personnel, but I think it comes down to attitude and the style of football," he says/ "Really it really comes down to that. "I just don't think that they came here with an Origin mindset tonight and were virtually outmuscled and outworked and out Origin-ed by a Queensland side that were very committed and very together. "There's plenty of talent in the NSW side, but talent is not enough and never has been enough at this level. "It just seemed that they weren't prepared for what they got and that's a disappointing thing." Gehamat Shibasaki had a great game S By Simon Smale Gehamat Shibasaki had 119 metres from 17 runs, seven tackle breaks and a try assist. Not bad for someone who almost quit the game at the start of the year. Blues overconfident? S By Simon Smale I listened to the NSW lead up .THE Queensland blokes had never won the third game in NSW to win the SOO. Well they have now. NSW were beaten by over confidence and arrogance.. Underestimating your opposition is always foolish. Not showing them respect is even worse. NSW COACH was the catalyst for this turpitude. Well honesty and courage won out over lack of respect and poor preparation. - Clive Nicholson Noah Papali'i with the sweetest moment of the night S By Simon Smale (Channel Nine) Josh Papali'i is now speaking about his family. Remember, he missed Billy Slater's call initially because he and his wife had just had another baby. "My family means everything to me," Papali'i says. "You know, there's three things I care about, and that's my faith, my family, and obviously this jersey. "Glad my son's old enough to realise, you know, what that's doing and hopefully I'm here in 20 years supporting him." Speaking of that son, here is Noah Papali'i, who agrees his dad is "good" but then steals the show. "Just worried about the baby at home," he says, wiping his eyes. "So my dad could see him and hug him and, yeah." Wow. (Channel Nine) Josh Papali'i: 'I didn't see myself coming back at all' S By Simon Smale Josh Papali'i is now speaking to Channel Nine. "It's always an honour, a privilege to represent this beautiful state," he says. "I was happily retired until Billy gave me the call. "I still had that fire in the belly for this jersey I'm so glad I come back. "And yeah, obviously, just being a part of this great win "Lost for words. "I didn't see myself coming back at all. "Just the encouragement of my wife to just come back and give it one last go. "And just the support of all the boys and the staff, you know, we pulled it off tonight." Fa'asuamaleaui 'it's such a good feeling' S By Simon Smale Tino Fa'asuamaleaui is talking on Channel Nine now.

"It's such a good feeling," Fa'asuamaleaui says. "All the work that we've done throughout the camps and all the noise we had against us. "It's just so good to top it off in the end." He talks about Cameron Munster too. "We were all pretty shocked and we really felt for Cam and for his family. "But I think we just addressed it straight away as a playing group. "We didn't let it dwell on it and get caught up in emotions. "We really stuck together and spoke as a group and obviously used that on the field tonight. "But yeah, as soon as we saw him we were just so happy to be with him and I think it was good for him to come to us. "It's just kind of his getaway."

Summary from KB S By Simon Smale Going to stick with my 3 points format. 1. Congrats to QLD- a very good team, well coached. 2. Dearden is my Man of the Match and the real deal. 3. Quite a few pretenders in the Blues who have been found out, including the coach. - KB Emotional stuff from Munster S By Simon Smale I’m not crying, you’re crying (and I’m a NSWalesian)! - Rebekah I almost think that him holding it together so well was worse. Amazing. Emotional Cameron Munster thanks his family after 'tough time' S By Simon Smale (Channel Nine) Cameron Munster is speaking

He's held his composure tremendously well so far. He congratulates his team, and the Blues, for getting behind him this week. But now there is a small crack of the pressure and emotion that he must be thinking and feeling. An intake of breath and he thanks his mum, his partner and his family. "I just want to say thank you for getting behind me this weekend," he says. "I know it's been a tough time, but yeah, I guess at the end of the day, that's life. "I just want to appreciate everyone that's been around me and make this week so special." Maroons 'outstanding S By Simon Smale Here's Isaah Yeo. "I just want to congratulate Billy, Cameron, the Queensland team. Outstanding," Yeo says. "Obviously dropping the first game and then being able to sort of come back and win that and then sort of just … the week you've just had. "It's an incredibly brave effort and you can tell the boys rallied behind you did a phenomenal job." Tom Dearden is player of the series S By Simon Smale He only needed two games to win the Wally Lewis Medal. Remind you of anyone? It was a massive call from Billy Slater to bring him into the squad in place of Daly Cherry-Evans. But how has it paid off. Here he is at the post-match presentation. "We had our backs against the wall the whole series, and we really tapped into that Queensland spirit. And f*** yeah. Sorry. I'm just so proud to be a Queensland tonight." Oops, just a dollar in the swear jar please, Tom. Billy Slater embraces Cameron Munster S By Simon Smale (Channel Nine) Not a dry eye in the house. 'We played for him': Grant on great mate Munster J By Jon Healy (Getty) Harry Grant captains Cameron Munster at the Melbourne Storm. Tonight the roles were reversed. He's emotional speaking to ABC Sport about his great mate. "So much love and appreciation to Cam for the way he showed up tonight to play and how he handled this. "The only way we could repay him was through our actions to give him something to remember through this time. "We played for him tonight." Blues 'shattered' S By Simon Smale Some thoughts from Blues player Nathan Cleary. "Shattering to be honest," Cleary says. "Just wasn't good enough. "At the end of the day, we probably didn't react well enough to their rushing defence. "They saved tries, they scrambled and we struggled to do that." He says that the Maroons defence was enormous and that although they continued to push, it wasn't enough. "It's just a shame we put ourselves in that position two games in a row," he says. "We were probably trying a bit too hard by the end of it. And. Yeah, it's just probably spent a lot of gas trying to run that score down and just couldn't do it." Munster: 'I've had so much support' S By Simon Smale Cameron Munster is now speaking about the loss of his father, Steven. "It's a tough one. "I think when someone loses someone, you forget about it sometimes, but then it brings back memories and obviously, I just want to say thank you to all the rugby league community. "They've been outstanding. I've had so much support and text messages from not only obviously rugby league, but also the NSW team, so just shows what kind of character those guys are. "Just forever grateful, and rugby league and that, I think family is more important than anything. "And a lot of people showed that the last couple of days and really got behind me. So I want to say thank you to all those people."

Maroons 'made it work' S By Simon Smale Cameron Munster is speaking on Channel Nine now. He's asked by Darren Lockyer what the thoughts were in the last five minutes "when we had it in the bag."

"I wouldn't say we had the game in the bag. You know, guys like Nathan Cleary, Dylan Edwards, Jarome Luai with the ball in hand. Latrell Mitchell, Stephen Crichton. when they got the ball they can create anything, in those last five minutes I've seen them dominate grand finals, they've come back from big losses. And yeah they did it in game two. "We made it work. You know the saying goes you work hard you get lucky. "So it felt like our group worked really hard tonight. And yeah we've got those 5050s." Cameron Munster is surrounded by his teammates S By Simon Smale No wonder why Cameron Munster is in tears. It's been a horror week for him, the sort of week that nobody even wants to experience but one that we all, inevitably shall. His teammates get around him. He's in tears. Dylan Edwards and Isaah Yeo both come over as well. Incredible to see. FT: QUEENSLAND WINS STATE OF ORIGIN! S By Simon Smale (Getty Images) 80' BLUES GET A CONSOLATION! S By Simon Smale Brian To'o equals the most number of tries scored in a single series by crossing over in the corner after deft Luai kick. I doubt he'll take much solace from that though. The kick is good, to make it 24-12. Show more posts

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