Kurt Gidley has jumped to the defence of NSW winger Akuila Uate and urged coach Ricky Stuart to stick by his struggling Newcastle Knights teammate.

Uate has enjoyed a meteoric rise since making his NRL debut in 2008, becoming first-choice on the right-wing for both the Blues and Australia.

However, the Fiji-born 24-year-old has come under criticism for two poor defensive performances in this year’s State of Origin series, casting doubts on whether he will keep his spot for the decider in Brisbane.

Uate failed to attack a high bomb from Cooper Cronk in front of his own posts in Origin II on Wednesday night and Ben Hannant scampered over for a try on the stroke of halftime in NSW’s 16-12 win in Sydney.

And he was caught out again midway through the second half when he failed to defuse a crossfield kick to his wing from Johnathan Thurston and Greg Inglis pounced for a record 14th try for the Maroons.

He also came under fire for two of Queensland tries in the Maroons’ 18-10 win in game one in Melbourne.

Continuity has been one of Ricky Stuart’s buzzwords since he took over as Blues coach, but the form of Uate will give him plenty to think about ahead of the decider in Brisbane on July 4.

Defeat will see Queensland wrap up a seventh successive series victory, but former NSW skipper Gidley urged him to keep faith with Uate, who has scored 58 NRL tries in 79 games for the Knights.

“A minute before halftime there was one mistake,” Gidley told AAP on Thursday.

“Other than that one mistake I thought he carried the ball strong.

“I thought a few of his reads in defence were great, he came in on Greg Inglis once and shut the ball down.

Despite his high ball woes, Gidley, who is recovering for season-ending shoulder surgery, said Uate is a player that Queensland would rather not face in attack.

“Obviously people are going to remember the mistake before halftime, not catching the ball on the full,” he said.

“But he’s still a guy I would fear getting past, that’s for sure.

“I wouldn’t like to play against Aku, the way he carries the ball back from kick returns.

“He’s certainly a guy I would retain in the squad for sure.”

NSW had no injuries woes following their win in a thrilling encounter played in front of a crowd of more than 83,000 and watched by a nationwide TV audience of 3.86 million.

If Stuart, who refused to give anything away about his plans for game three, does decide Uate is too much of a liability then Brett Morris is likely to come in.

The St George Illawarra flyer was called into the squad as 19th man in Sydney and played in games one and three last year.