Moments. We all love a good moment. On the biggest sporting stage, with the most on the line and in front of large sums of people all it takes is a moment to change the tide.

One missed assignment on defence, one little scoot with the ball in hand.

New South Wales have done the almost unthinkable. They defeated a Queensland team who had already done the unthinkable and looked likely to pull something out of the bag ... again. All it took was one moment. QLD had fought valiantly on their try line, putting in what looked to be another Origin type of defensive effort until Trent Hodkinson got the ball and made the most of the opportunity presented by Ben Te'o. And that was that.

Phil Gould was getting his knickers in a twist as NSW seemed to forget that they had players who were much more likely to get points than Paul Gallen and Greg Bird. Around that time I thought to myself, what had Hodkinson and Josh Reynolds actually done in the game? Hodkinson was basically M.I.A. while Reynolds was having a shocker. Nearly everything he did turned to shit, whether it was his quick tap that resulted in him being put on his bum and getting a serve from Gallen or whether it was throwing passes that led to drop balls. The two young halves looked to have missed the bus.

Hodkinson then won the game for NSW while Reynolds did what many players have probably tried to do in the past - get under the skin of QLD and Jonathan Thurston. For a game that had so much action, well kind of action, two images will remain in my head forever from the year that NSW won the shield back - Hodkinson scooting through a big gap and Thurston loosing his shit because of Reynolds. It kind of summed it all up, it was just meant to be.

Robbie Farah told the refs that they were loosing control of the game ... after 10 minutes. This was no ordinary game of footy, this is the new definition of State of Origin. In the past it has been a bit like ice hockey, start a fight to get some momentum and show that you mean business. From 2014 onwards you have to be a bit more subtle, but in every aspect we're seeing Origin rise above regular NRL footy.

It hurt watching it. I don't know where these bruises I now have come from but every tackle hurt. Justin Hodges and Michael Jennings were at each other all game, so were Nate Myles and Greg Bird. Elbows, knees, slaps and sneaky punches were everywhere. The word out of the QLD dressing room at half time was to not get amongst all the niggle, leave it to NSW. The game ended with Jonathan Thurston wanting a 1 outs g with Reynolds. Mission failed.

After 8 years, the celebrations just aren't the same. While QLD were obviously pretty chuffed with their effort after each and every victory, a NSW win was going to be another kettle of fish. And it was. I was sad, I was pretty pissed off but seeing the joy and emotion of the NSW players and Laurie Daley can only make you smile. While you could have noted how much the game meant to these guys after their losses, to see what it really meant for NSW to win we had to see them celebrate. Paul Gallen, Robbie Farah and Jarryd Hayne are all top 10 NRL players and they hadn't experience a State of Origin victory, they let their emotions flow.

While I may not want to let the images of Hodkinson and Reynolds linger in my mind, I'll happily remember the scenes after the game. The celebrations, the emotion and just the pureness of sport that can bring out all of this for me is fucking amazing. But also what happened after that. QLD had a huddle, which I'm sure went along the lines of Cameron Smith telling them that this is what it feels like and possibly giving them a San Antonio Spurs reference to return to the podium next year. They then proceeded to shake hands with the NSW players and offer their congratulations, the NSW players returned in kind. It wasn't about the QLDers manning up their balls and being good sports, it was about both teams and their mutual respect for each other.

I don't know what made Thurston flip, I don't know what Reynolds said, maybe we'll find out. I also don't know what Thurston told Reynolds when they shook hands afterwards. In a game where a singular moment turned the tide, they shared a moment. A moment where the mayhem around them appeared to disappear, sort of like when Jon Snow shared a moment with his Wildling shawty Ygritte ... while she was dying.

I don't know whether it was a nice moment of if Thurston told Reynolds what was up, but it sums up why we all love State of Origin. Congrats NSW.