Queensland enforcer Josh Papalii has refused to blame an ongoing knee complaint after being "dominated" in State of Origin game two, vowing to answer a call from Mal Meninga to spark the Maroons bench in Wednesday night's series decider.
The Canberra wrecking ball cut a frustrated figure ahead of Origin III at Suncorp Stadium despite Queensland's stirring 18-16 game two win in Sydney after having no answer to the NSW pack.
Papalii made a handy 98m from his 32-minute stint to easily be the best performed Maroons bench forward at ANZ Stadium.
However, Papalii, 25, said he would have to "play smarter" if he was to respond to ex-Queensland coach Meninga's recent call for the Maroons bench to make an impact in the decider.
"He's been a great player for the Maroons for a long time so any advice I'm going to take on board," Papalii said of Meninga.
Papalii admitted his ongoing knee issue had flared again in recent weeks due to the bitter cold at NRL club Canberra.
"It's just old injuries slowly coming back," he said ahead of his eighth Origin.
"I've had it for a while. It doesn't make it any easier that it was minus-six in Canberra when we played the Cowboys (last weekend).
"I'm alright. I played through the Broncos and the Cowboys (past fortnight) so it (knee) should be fine."
Not that Papalii was making any excuses for his game two effort.
"I just had a bad game in game two. Every time I was running I was getting sort of dominated there, especially after the kick-offs and drop-outs as well," he said.
"I'm not the biggest guy in the State of Origin arena so I've got to try and bring some energy off the bench and try and be smarter."
Asked how he would do that, Papalii said: "By not running straight into (David) Klemmer."
Papalii said he would need to lift after veteran five-eighth Johnathan Thurston's Origin career abruptly ended when he suffered a season ending shoulder injury in game two.
It did not stop Thurston kicking the match-winning sideline conversion.
"Looking at the class players in this team, they got us home especially off the back of Johnno's boot (in game two)," Papalii said.
"I have to be smarter the way I use my energy. Whether that's line speed or taking another carry for the boys, setting up a play, or something like that."
While Papalii hoped to provide spark, he believed Queensland lock Josh McGuire was emerging as the new Maroons pack leader.
Brisbane forward McGuire has hit the ground running this year slotting into the Maroons No.13 jersey left behind by retired lock Corey Parker.
