Queensland coach Paul Green denied the disruption from Ronaldo Mulitalo's late scratching put his side off in their 26-0 Origin II loss but was unhappy with the breakdown in the process that led to it happening.
Green said losing a winger on game day morning was "obviously very disruptive" but felt his team handled the situation well.
"It's obviously a massive breakdown in the process – I don't think that's finished yet," Green said.
"All the information that was available to us [said] he was eligible to play.
"He signed his last two contracts and in that he signed his eligibility to say he was 'yes' for Queensland.
"We don't register the contracts. We're not a part of that process. We just get a list off a database who says they're eligible based off that [from the NRL].
"It's not ideal but I thought we handled it well."
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Skipper Daly Cherry-Evans felt for the young winger but said the team did its best to move on without him.
"I can't measure [what impact it had] because it's never happened before. It's a real different one but we tried to put it to the side," Cherry-Evans said.
"I thought the way we showed our intensity and our effort, it didn't knock us about too much but we'll never know, it's never been seen before and I hope it doesn't happen again because I can't imagine what's been going through poor Ronaldo's head the last 24 hours.
"It's a shame that we [as a sport] have done that."
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Blues coach Brad Fittler could also afford some sympathy for the 21-year-old Sharks winger.
"Absolutely [I felt for Mulitalo] and for Reece [Walsh] as well," Fittler said.
"We're all young and we're all playing our first game and everyone wants to play in front of that [crowd]. But we didn't make up the rules. There's only one person's fault there."
Both Queensland's captain and coach were more concerned with how badly their side was outclassed in attack and defence, admitting they were unsure how to turn around the hugely lopsided series.
"We came here with the right intentions and unfortunately couldn't get it done. They're a good side but they took their opportunities and we didn't," Cherry-Evans said.
"It obviously hurts a lot right now. We do have to shake it off because we're going to Sydney now.
"They're licking their lips at the opportunity for three-nil. I hope the silver lining from tonight is we've sparked something inside of us that kicks us into gear because that's just not something I even want to think about at the moment.
"It's tough enough they've won the series, let alone three-nil. We have to be motivated by the fact this is all happened and we can stop the bleeding.
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"We probably have to change a few things in regard to the style of footy we're playing.
"[When] you continually put yourselves under pressure and the scoreboard ticks up, you're bound to try more things and when you're chasing points it doesn't work out too well for you sometimes.
"I think we need to adjust a few things next camp, we've got nothing to lose."