Softly-spoken Queensland captain Daly Cherry-Evans has found his voice but says the Maroons can't afford to rest on their gritty State of Origin game one efforts.
The halfback inspired the hosts to a comeback 18-14 defeat of NSW at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday night which he says validates the methods of a Maroons side minus the stars that have driven them for more than a decade.
The Manly playmaker is no Billy Moore when it comes to getting his point across, but the new skipper admitted he had channelled some of that hairy-chested confidence in a defining build-up to the Brisbane opener.
"It's important to continue to be myself, make sure I back my ability and anything I have to say, make sure I'm saying it with a bit of conviction so the boys know I'm not just making it up," he said, adding that the support of former players Johnathan Thurston and Billy Slater in camp had been crucial.
"I got a lot of respect from my teammates this week and appreciate the efforts they put in to make me feel special."
Down 8-0 at half-time, Cherry-Evans rallied the new-look side with some of those words to turn the tide after the Blues had dominated the early stages of the contest.
The catch-cry all week had been belief and the captain said the result would only fuel that further.
"I think it had a lot to do with it to be honest," he said of the team's new mantra.
"It was even brought up at halftime, that we had to believe ... 8-0 down in Origin is tough to come back from.
"It takes a lot of hard work, a lot of resilience.
"Tonight was just a gritty win, a tough forward pack got us home defensively and we had some icing on the cake with (Cameron) Munster, (Dane) Gagai and (Kalyn) Ponga."
The series moves to Perth on June 23, where Cherry-Evans is expecting both teams to be better.
"We said after the game ... structurally that was really sort of poor," Cherry-Evans said.
"So as good as we were to win the game tonight I thought structurally there's so much improvement in us.
"They're going to be even more desperate now, so if we think the same thing is going to win us game two then we're in for a rude shock.
"I don't think we'll be that (same) side, we won't rest on tonight."
