It took arguably the game's best player to end Michael Morgan's finals-killing run and put the North Queensland playmaker under the pump.
Morgan learnt in Sunday's grand final loss to Cameron Smith's Melbourne how much easier it is to play with than against the celebrated forward.
The Cowboys playmaker was unable to reproduce the sparkling attacking play that has been such a integral part of their surge to the season decider.
But the canny hooker and savvy veteran's pressure on Morgan gave him little latitude to display his range of skills and the Cowboys managed just one try.
"He's a very smart player, he's good at it, he puts himself in a good position to do it," Morgan said of the pressure imposed on him by Smith.
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"I knew it was coming, I was expecting it going in.
"I guess he did a good job of it. We were lucky enough to find him out once and get a try off it."
Despite the high stakes, there was still a moment of levity between the Queensland and Kangaroos teammates.
"We had a little word to each other once, nothing serious, it was a bit of a joke together," Morgan said.
Asked if he was pleased with the development of his kicking game this season a rueful Morgan replied "Until tonight I was.
"I was put under the pump by a pretty good player."
