Champion crowned despite suspension: Zero Tackle’s State of Origin MVP, 2023

Reece Walsh was so good for the Maroons in the opening two games of the 2023 State of Origin series that he didn't need to play in Wednesday evening's dead rubber to take out Zero Tackle's MVP award.

The star fullback went into last night's game with the lead on 22 points, and with his closest competition in Daly Cherry-Evans, Valentine Holmes, Reuben Cotter, Lindsay Collins and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow failing to score in the loss for the Maroons, it means Walsh held onto his lead.

Game 3 saw a complete flip on the opening two games that had been dominated by Queensland, with the Blues instead running away during the dead rubber, held in Sydney.

James Tedesco played his best game of the series, and maybe all year, recording 18 out of a possible 20 votes from our four judge panel, who award votes on a 5-4-3-2-1 basis from each game.

Cody Walker was also exceptional after his recall, earning 14 votes in the contest.

Cameron Murray, Bradman Best, Brian To'o, and Josh Addo-Carr were the other Blues players amongst the votes during Game 3, with no Queenslanders featuring in the top five on the field for any of our four judges.

Here are the Game 3 votes

And here is the final leaderboard with a breakdown of when votes were scored.