Exhausted NSW players were on the verge of being physically ill and sat in almost silence in the sheds at half-time after one of the most frenetic openings to a State of Origin match in recent memory.

Several of the Blues stars buckled over when they returned to their rooms underneath Suncorp Stadium shortly after Mitchell Pearce's try on the stroke of half-time broke Queensland hearts – and broke the series wide open – following a brutal 40 minutes.

The Maroons completed every set they had, while the Blues made only one mistake in a near faultless beginning – which was devoid of any meaningful stoppages given Matt Cecchin put the whistle away to let the game flow.

And it was only when they were out of the public eye that the true toll of the first half was revealed after both teams' exploits in the first half earned rave reviews.