Queensland’s State of Origin win over NSW on Wednesday night wasn’t too bad considering they were only playing with 16 players.

Or at least that’s how coach Kevin Walters and captain Cameron Smith returned serve at the Sydney media following the hammering of Origin bolter Tim Glasby.

Walters made a point to single out Glasby’s performance on Wednesday night, after the biggest Queensland bolter in a decade got through more running metres per minute than any other Maroon.

“Tim Who was excellent for us,” Walters said.

“We know the qualities he brings to the team and he was excellent for us.”

The Maroons brought in four debutants for Wednesday’s must-win clash with the Blues – the most of any Queensland team since their dynasty started in 2006.

All experienced trying nights at stages.

Valentine Holmes dropped the ball on his first touch, before recovering to score the opening try in controversial fashion, when it appeared his foot had touched the sideline but the bunker ruled there was insufficient evidence to suggest he stepped out.

Jarrod Wallace ran just 22 metres in two runs, and wasn’t sighted after he came off the field midway through the first half.

Coen Hess had to wait until the 57th minute to get off the bench, but according to Fox Sports Stats had just three runs once he came on.

But it was the performance of Glasby which attracted the most joy from Storm teammate Smith.

“It’s one of the best (wins), considering four debutants – and apparently one of the debutants not many people know him,” Smith said.

“That was a pretty fair effort to get the win tonight – with 16 men – in Sydney.”

Glasby’s debut started slowly but it was in attack where he stood proud.

Brought in to shut down the Blues’ forward pack with his dominant tackling style, Glasby had a defensive hand in two NSW tries in his first five minutes.

But the Melbourne prop rebounded to make 18 tackles and 65 metres in his 25-minute stint either side of halftime.

For Glasby the media criticism was the proverbial water off a duck’s back.

“People can say what they like but I’m very comfortable in what I bring to the team,” Glasby said.

“Stats don’t tell the whole story. They certainly tell a bit of the story but they don’t tell the whole thing.

“It’s part of the banter of Origin. With all the changes that were made to the team, there was always going to be the questioning of selections.

“And I was always going to be the easy target because I was a pretty unexpected selection for everyone.”