The stats may beg to differ but Jarrod Wallace says Queensland's State of Origin II mauling from NSW in Perth came down to not winning the big moments.
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But it remains to be seen if Wallace gets another chance to enjoy another moment in a Maroons jersey after Queensland's pack were dominated in the 38-6 rout on Sunday night.
Wallace appears out of lifelines after he managed just 50m off the bench in his comeback match as the Blues pack ran amok through the middle at Optus Stadium.
Wallace was overlooked for Queensland's series opening victory after a quiet NRL season start with Gold Coast and copping flak for his efforts in the 2018 Origin series.
And he only got a shot at Origin redemption in game two after injuries to Joe Ofahengaue (knee) and Jai Arrow (ankle).
But Wallace still held onto hope he could earn a seventh Maroons cap in next month's series decider in Sydney despite being hooked in the final 30 minutes after again lacking punch.
"Hopefully I get another chance. I love wearing this jersey. I just want to make sure I wear it as much as I can," he said.
"Every time I got the chance to run the ball I did, and as hard as I could and tackle as hard as I could - that's all I can do.
"But we need to be better there to win games like this. It is built on moments and unfortunately we didn't take them (on Sunday night)."
Winning big moments may be the least of the Maroons' concerns.
Back-rower Felise Kaufusi (102m) was the only Maroons forward who ran 100m.
Their starting front row of Josh Papalii (10 runs for 77m) and Dylan Napa (four runs for 28m) failed to get Queensland on the front foot as the Maroons got off to a slow start for the second straight game.
This time NSW didn't let them off the hook.
The rest of the Maroons pack did not fare better with Matt Gillett (nine runs for 49m) and David Fifita (six runs for 43m) struggling to match the Blues' aggression.
Overall, NSW ran for almost double the amount of metres as Queensland, racking up 1736m to the Maroons' 989m.
The Blues pack was led by Jake Trobjevic (133m), captain Boyd Cordner (117m), Paul Vaughan (109m) and Wade Graham (102m).
Then again, pinpointing where it all went wrong for Queensland was hard for Wallace who admitted game two was all a blur.
"It all goes that fast, honestly I can't remember too much," Wallace said.
"But I will definitely be better for the run for game three. Hopefully I am there."
Australian Associated Press
