NSW coach Brad Fittler defended his squad selection and praised Isaah Yeo's effort in the centres following the Blues' defeat in Wednesday night's Origin decider.
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Yeo was forced to play as a makeshift centre as part of a lineup shuffle after Blues captain and star fullback James Tedesco was knocked out by an accidental knee to the head from Queensland prop Josh Papalii after just 20 minutes at Suncorp.
Yeo came off the bench as Clint Gutherson shifted to fullback and from there the Queensland attack targeted the St John's junior plenty.
While Penrith's Yeo was up for the challenge, he and the Blues weren't able to hold off the spirited hosts, who won 20-14 and secured a shock series win.
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Many questioned Fittler's decision to have four forwards on the bench rather than giving a player like electric Melbourne fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen a spot and those calls only grew late on in Wednesday's series-deciding contest when five-eight Cody Walker was also forced from the field due to concussion.
That forced centre Jack Wighton into the halves and second-rower Angus Crichton to centre.
"How do you know your fullback is going down? When's the last time a fullback went down? No I wouldn't change it at all," Fittler said post-game.
"Gutho did a fantastic job and Isaah Yeo was awesome."
In total, Yeo made 108 metres from 15 runs and had a late line break on Wednesday.