Maroons spoil the party in Newcastle as historic series whitewash avoided

Queensland have spoiled the NSW Blues dream of recording a clean sweep in the Origin arena with a dramatic 18-14 win in Newcastle.

Chelsea Lenarduzzi, who was overlooked in game one, was the hero for the visitors as she put the Maroons into the lead with just six minutes left on the clock.

Ali Brigginshaw sent a slick pass out to the lock to charge over the tryline and put the Blues in an unfavourable position in front of a home crowd.

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"Her work tonight has been outstanding," Phil Gould said on Nine.

The spirits of the hosts were not dimmed by the try as an error by Tarren Aiken saw the Blues begin to power down the field in bid to strike back.

A professional foul by the match-winning try-scorer with three seconds on the clock saw the Blues handed one final shot to score, but the hosts were unsuccessful.

"It is a bit of a disappointing end, but we still need to keep our spirits high," Abbi Church told Nine post-match.

"We're still going to get to lift the shield. We would have liked to have get that clean sweep, but it wasn't meant to be today.

"I think we just gave them a leg up down the field a little bit too much. Our discipline was off there ... but I still think the girls did an unreal job."

Earlier, Church was in no mood to let Queensland's ruin the Blues' quest for a clean sweep as she left league greats stunned with an "insane" try-saving tackle.

A rocky start to the final game of the series was not enough to rattle the hosts as their fullback shifted momentum to back in their favour in crucial moments.

But her individual effort to deny Emily Bass of adding four points to the Maroons score was one that left Nine's commentary stunned.

Lauren Brown launched a pin point bomb above the Blues defence, with the ball bouncing off the turf in front of Maroons centre Emily Bass.

Bass bolted towards the tryline when the NSW fullback unveiled a desperate tackle on top of the tryline and managed to hold her rival above the ground.

"Abbi Church, take a bow," Nine called Mat Thompson said.

"That is insane," Allana Ferguson added.

Phil Gould said: "That is brilliant. That is phenomenal."

The try-saving act was review by the Bunker, who confirmed Church had perfectly wrapped the ball in her arms and rolled Bass out of contention of scoring a try.

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A "frantic" set by the Blues followed Church's try-saver as tension between Jamie Chapman and Julia Robinson began to heat up.

Isabelle Kelly leapt over in the 21st minute to claim the Blues' second try of the evening, but she was denied by the Bunker due to failing to ground the ball.

However, Jess Sergis rectified her skipper's mistakes moments later as she pushed away a defending Jasmine Peters to score.

Church's brilliance around the field quickly caught the attention of her rivals as a beautiful grubber quick forced a repeated set for the Blues from close range.

"Abbi Church is having an absolute blinder, the role she is playing is absolutely perfect," Ferguson said.

Jocelyn Kelleher added her name to the try-scoring list for the Blues in the 48th before Queensland narrowed the margin courtesy of a "lazy" error by the hosts.