Queensland celebrate their fifth straight State of Origin series win in Brisbane last night. Photo / Getty Images
BRISBANE - Queensland want to finish the job with a State of Origin whitewash in Sydney next month after clinching the series with a 34-6 smashing of NSW on Wednesday night.
The disappointment of missing a series sweep in front of their fans last year was still in the minds
of Maroons players despite the jubilation of taking their record run to five straight series in front of 52,000 fans.
While Mal Meninga's side has now been elevated to Queensland's best by some of the state's greats, hooker Cameron Smith said they hadn't yet achieved a series whitewash like those before them.
"We haven't had a whitewash yet, we haven't won three in a row in the series," Smith said.
"The players involved would really like to do that. We had a chance to do it last year and we fell short, we were disappointed with that.
"It's been a long time since Queensland have done that.
The last Queensland side to sweep a series was Paul Vautin's underdogs in 1995.
Smith said it was difficult to compare this side with past teams and the players in them.
"Those guys are our heroes," he said.
"They were players we looked up to and we're always going to seem them as better players than us."
Lockyer will lift the Origin shield after the third game at ANZ Stadium on July 7.
"That's the way it's always been done after the third game but if you've won the series, why not present it, no matter where you are," Smith said.
"We're going to be travelling down to Sydney for the third one and no matter what the result we've won the series.
"We'd like to win the match but we're going to be lifting up the trophy in front of not many fans, I think, they're going to be going home early."
- AAP
