The battered Blues will not spend long lamenting the one that got away.
That was the overwhelming opinion of coach Kylie Hilder and senior NSW players after their gut-wrenching 11-10 loss to Queensland at a rain-soaked McDonald Jones Stadium in Newcastle on Thursday night.
In front of a new Women's Origin record crowd of 25,782, surpassing the 25,492 who watched the Blues win 22-12 at Suncorp Stadium three weeks earlier, NSW led 6-0 at half-time and 10-4 with less than 10 minutes to go.
But a Taryn Aiken solo try, converted by Lauren Brown, levelled the scores at 10-10 then Brown landed the winning field goal less than two minutes from the end.
The archetypal come-from-behind Queensland victory squared the first best-of-three women's series 1-1 and set up a decider in Townsville on June 27.
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"It's a tough one. Really tough conditions out there, really tough game, and obviously there's a lot of disappointment in the sheds at the moment," Hilder said.
"These girls probably feel it. I don't need to say too much about how they're feeling.
"They're all pretty upset, pretty disappointed, and I think the game was there for us to take in several different stages. It didn't happen, that's footy, but in hindsight, it's great for the first series to go to a decider up in Townsville.
"We'll go back and look at what we need to look at, reset ourselves, and rebuild for Townsville."
From the field: Jess Sergis
NSW outside backs Jess Sergis (corked thigh) and Jaime Chapman (cramps) spent much of the second half hampered by leg injuries, having collided with each other chasing Rachael Pearson's kick 10 minutes into the second half, but are not expected to miss the deciding game.
"It was a pretty hard game, to be honest ... I don't even know what to say. I think I'm just pretty disappointed at the moment," an emotional Sergis told Channel Nine shortly after the final siren.
"It was a big grind. I think it was only six points at half-time, and we knew they were going to come out firing, but we did the best we could and it was just unfortunate."
Sergis suffered her corked thigh as collateral damage when caught in Keilee Joseph's high tackle three minutes before half-time, which forced her from the field for a head injury assessment. The gutsy centre returned after the break and went the distance, conjuring up one of the plays of the game with a one-on-one strip of Julia Robinson to set up Tiana Penitani's 58th-minute try."
Good luck me trying to stop her playing Game Three," Hilder said.
"Jess, you saw her out there, she was buckled.
"She got that head knock and went off, she had a really bad cork in one leg, then she got another cork in her other leg, but she just kept fighting and she refused to come off, and that's Jess.
Sergis with a huge play
"But she got that one-on-one steal and I'm pretty sure we scored off the back of that. That's a game-changer, and that's what Jess does for us, and if Jess is telling me she's OK, I'll leave her out there until she can't walk."
After bumping into Sergis in the 45th minute, right-edge partner Chapman struggled to resolve cramps in both legs but also finished the game.
"I cramped in my calf, hammy, quad in the same leg all at one time and I had no idea what to do, then I was also cramping in the left calf as well," Chapman explained to reporters.
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"It was probably just the cold weather. I tried the pickle juice and it didn't really work, and it kept cramping all game, but I've got three weeks and I'll get myself ready for game three.
"It's Origin, it's a different game.
"It's the biggest game of the year, I think, and I'll power through anything I have to, and no matter what's going on with my body, or outside of footy, I'll be playing."
Chapman was certain Sergis would be alongside her in the NSW back-line Townsville on June 27.
"She's one of the toughest people I know, and when Jess goes down, you know it's pretty serious," the 22-year-old Gold Coast Titans flyer said.
"To see her go off with a head knock, I was devastated for her sake ... but Jess is so tough, she came straight back on the field and did her job even though she was hurting, and I'll aways back her 100 per cent.
"Me and Jess, we've got a very, very good connection, especially off the field, and on the field we know we have each other's backs and we just make sure that we execute for each other.
"When one goes down, I'll step up for Jess, or if I go down, she'll step up for me, so it's a very good combination that we have, it's trust, and I love her to bits.
"We were battling out there, both having some niggles, but to defend how we did on our edge, especially when we were struggling, I'm proud of us. I think our connection on the right side is amazing and I think we can build on it now."
From the field: Brown
Chapman said watching Queensland celebrate a two-game series win on aggregate in Townsville last year, despite losing the second game 18-14, would provide motivation for the Blues.
"Definitely, especially in Townsville," Chapman said.
"We know what we can do. We just didn't hit our targets tonight, but we're going to come back bigger, stronger, better and be really selfish with our preparation.
"Last year was kind of a weird feeling, to be honest, but it's history now.
"We're going to make history this year. It's a three-game Origin series and the beauty of it is we have a last game to come back and get the win and put the Shield back where it belongs."
Apps on song early
Apart from being motivated by Queensland's 2023 series win, NSW co-captain Kezie Apps said the Blues were looking forward to more user-friendly playing conditions in Townsville.
"Last year was just really unfortunate how it ended, and I'm not going to lie and say that that doesn't still sting and still hurt that we lost last year's series," Apps said.
"That's just me personally, and I'm going to be doing everything I can in these next couple of weeks to make sure that I'm prepared as best as possible and I know all the girls will as well because tonight's not how we wanted it to go.
"I know there's a lot of disappointed girls in that change-room. Everyone's very down, and they're very hard critics of themselves, especially in front of our home fans as well.
"We'll regroup and get back together and reflect and work out what went right, what went wrong, and we get to do it all again."
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