Mark O'Meley gets a helping hand

Queensland took the lead when Darren Lockyer landed a penalty, but NSW went into the break 6-2 ahead thanks to a try from lock Luke Ricketson and the first of three goals from Ryan Girdler.

Jamie Ainscough, man-of-the-match Trent Barrett and Fittler added further tries after the interval before the Maroons hit back with a four-pointer from Chris Walker.

Fittler than rounded off a memorable night for both himself and his team by scoring NSW's fifth and final try in the 74th minute.

"We played the team we thought we would have played in Brisbane," said Queensland coach Wayne Bennett. "We got handed a bit of a lesson."