NSW captain James Tedesco is bracing himself for State of Origin II to be decided in the dying minutes and maintains the Blues were "not far off" clinching the series opener.
The Blues weathered an early Maroons onslaught at Adelaide Oval in late May and looked to be on their way to victory, leading 18-16 while Queensland had a man in the sin bin in the final 10 minutes.
But an overlap down the left and Lindsay Collins' airborne heroics led to Maroons tries and sealed a 26-18 win that leaves NSW needing to level the series in enemy territory on June 21.
Fullback Tedesco bore the brunt of criticism for missing his assignment in defence ahead of the Maroons' last two tries in Origin I.
But as NSW look to right the wrongs, their captain insisted neither he nor his teammates should panic.
"We weren't that far off," Tedesco told AAP.
"We didn't start too well, which is something we're going to have to do up there.
"That last 10 minutes, we've just got to own our moments. It's on me owning a couple of moments.
"But we were really in the grind there, we were really on top for most of that game.
"I don't think it's far off but we're going to have to work harder. We haven't got a second chance."
Since the beginning of the 2018 series, when Brad Fittler began coaching NSW, 11 of 16 matches have been decided by 10 points or fewer - and six of those 11 have featured at least one try in the final 10 minutes.
Tedesco urged his Blues not to switch off at that crucial juncture of the game.
"We know in this game it's going to come down to the last five or 10 minutes," he said.
"It usually does, for most of our games.
"At the end there it's probably just a mentality thing, just to keep playing, keep creating the win.
"(In Game I) I was just trying to hold on and hope we win but that's not how Origin footy is won. I took a lot of lessons from Game I."
Statistically speaking Origin dead rubbers are rare - in the past 12 series only four times has the side that won the first game gone on to win the second.
In that time, Queensland have achieved the feat only once - in 2016.
Forward Tyson Frizell, NSW's most-capped active player behind Tedesco, said the Blues can take comfort from the history books.
"In the past, it's been very hard to win back-to-back games," he told AAP.
"It usually goes 1-1 and then ends up with the last game. We're looking to go up there and do everything we can to level up the series.
"Game I doesn't mean anything."
