They were either shocked at how close NSW came to one of great Origin escapes or they were deliberately keeping the lid on their emotions with history still one win away.

But the mood in Queensland's dressing room in Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night after their 28-18 victory over an NSW outfit stacked with nervous rookies, was surprisingly subdued for a bunch of men so close to greatness.

There was no backslapping, no yahooing, barely any sign of celebration.

It suggested coach Mal Meninga already has their minds fixed on becoming the first state to win four series' straight in the 30 years of intense interstate rivalry.

However, the Blues' big finish, after being 24-6 down in the second half to trail by just six points with 10 minutes to play, certainly took some gloss of Queensland's post-game celebrations.

While NSW have some serious selection soul searching to do before the return game in Sydney later this month, Queensland will make just one forced change for luckless centre Justin Hodges who ended the night on crutches.

Hodges, who was to have scans on his return to Brisbane on Thursday, faces up to six weeks on the sidelines, possibly ruling him out for the rest of the series after he damaged his medial ligament in the first half.

It's a tough blow for the Broncos star who's missed the last three NRL games with a hamstring injury and who revealed publicly recently he'd battled depression after missing last year's World Cup through injury.

Meninga and the selectors will not make any changes, knowing how badly the players want to be recognised at the best ever.

"We knew we had a job do, we knew we were favourites," said Meninga.

""Everyone knows we're going for four in a row but we put that out of our minds to get the result we desired.

"We skipped away by a few points but I told the players (afterwards) that's what rugby league and particularly Origin is about, it's never set in place, even when you skip to 24-6, that doesn't mean you're going to win the game.

"We found that out on the night, they played a lot better in the second half."

Meninga said the last three years had been fantastic with Queensland putting together a team that played for each other and believed in each other.

"Whatever circumstances this team finds themselves under, they seem to come up with the right result," he said.

"These players here deserve all the accolades they get.

"It's only step one, but hopefully we can regroup in the next couple of weeks and put them (NSW) away in game two."

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