Winning may be a habit for Queensland but captain Cameron Smith says they must ditch another if they are to keep alive hopes of an eighth straight State of Origin series win.

Smith said overcoming their notorious slow starts was the key to bouncing back in their must-win Origin II clash with NSW at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday night.

NSW ambushed Queensland, jumping to a 14-0 lead in the Origin opener on June 5 before the Maroons began to fight back.

But it was too little, too late as the Blues moved to within one win of claiming their first Origin series since 2005.

“Our biggest problem in game one was our start. Unfortunately over the last seven years we have been notoriously ordinary starters but have found a way to come back,” Smith said on Tuesday.

“But as we know the Blues have improved over the last few years and they were too good a side to come back from that deficit.

“We always had belief that we could come back but time got us.”

Smith could still find a positive in the 14-6 game one loss.

“We had ample opportunities to win it,” he said.

“The first 40 minutes cost us really.

“We didn’t have a lot of positives from game one but the one positive I saw was we didn’t play anywhere near our best but we still had opportunities to win.

“If we start well and apply pressure early we are a real good chance of winning.”

Queensland came back from 1-0 down to claim both the 2006 and 2008 series.

And the Maroons have won every live rubber in Brisbane since 2005.