The Blues' two injured stars were among their most influential. One word stopped NSW ruling Stephen Crichton out

NSW coach Laurie Daley described the man-of-the-match performance produced by Payne Haas as "inspirational" after the powerhouse prop led the Blues to an 18-6 triumph in the State of Origin opener on Wednesday night.

Daley also revealed boom centre Stephen Crichton, the other Blues player who'd carried an injury into the Suncorp Stadium clash, had convinced NSW physios that he was right to play by uttering one word: "mad".

Haas was facing a two-week recovery after suffering a quad strain during the Broncos' last match before game one, and although there were only 10 days between the clash with the Dragons and the series-opener, he managed to beat the clock, run out for his 15th Origin appearance and manufacture a best-afield performance.

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The Newcastle-born star piled up 156 run metres from 18 carries and laid 30 tackles.

"For a big bloke, limited prep, like a 10-day prep with hardly any running, because we had to make sure he was right," Daley said in his post-match press conference.

"To jump out of the ground and do what he did was inspirational."

Daley said the only training Haas had completed in Origin camp was a quarter of a session on Monday.

"So he hadn't really trained, and then to push out the minutes and be strong ... was great," Daley said.

The Blues coach said the team physios had done an "amazing job" in getting Haas and Crichton right.

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Crichton played the last Bulldogs game before the series-opener despite carrying a groin injury.

Canterbury's skipper then sent a scare through the NSW camp when he limped off the field on Monday with ice strapped to the same previously injured leg.

The official word out of the NSW camp was he'd suffered a corked quad during an opposed session.

He appeared unfazed by the issue as he went on a jinking run to set up the first try of Wednesday night's match, stepping around Valentine Holmes as the Queensland veteran rushed in off his wing, before drawing Kalyn Ponga and Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow and passing to an unmarked Zac Lomax, who dotted down.

"I think the word they said to me — [the physios said] Critta's right to go because they asked him this morning how he was and he said he was 'mad'," Daley laughed.

"So that's obviously good."

The Blues secured back-to-back wins at Suncorp Stadium for the first time since 1997-98.

They're now looking to wrap up the series, and retain the Origin shield, at Perth's Optus Stadium on June 18.

"I'm just so proud to get the win, to be honest, especially at Suncorp; it's so hard to win here," Haas told Nine's Danika Mason.

"We haven't gone back-to-back at Suncorp for a while now, so to do it with this group is so special, and [I] just can't wait for game two.

"We spoke about it at the start of the week and we know we have a special group here and we really wanted to do it.

"I love playing with this group, and I love playing for our state and our people."