Canberra Raiders breathe sigh of relief after Nick Cotric injury scare

Then came the collective sigh of relief when the Canberra Raiders young gun got up and managed to play on.

It was a night of joy, heartache and injury for Canberra's Origin trio as Queensland beat NSW 18-14 to win the series opener at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday night.

Josh Papalii will be smiling when he rejoins his Canberra teammates Cotric and Jack Wighton in Sydney on Thursday to prepare for the Raiders' next NRL challenge.

The Maroons won the opener thanks to a Dane Gagai brace, one of which was scored when he intercepted a Wighton pass and ran almost the length of the field.

Blues coach Brad Fittler said that pass would haunt Wighton for a while, but praised his running game when he came on.

"I thought Jack Wighton was fantastic. It was a shame he threw that intercept try and that's going to haunt him for a while, but I thought everything he did leading up to that was good," Fittler said.

The taste of Origin for rookies Wighton and Cotric will be a lingering memory when the Raiders play the Wests Tigers on Friday night.

But when they look back they will see how Queensland took full advantage of Latrell Mitchell's sin-binning for a professional foul in the second half when he made an early tackle on Matt Gillett.

It was all five-eighth Cameron Munster for Queensland in the first half, but the home side failed to take advantage of three gilt-edged chances.

In the second, Maroons fullback Kalyn Ponga played a crucial role with crucial passes Gagai and Corey Oates tries.

While Queensland were wasteful early, the Blues capitalised on the electric pace of hooker Damien Cook and fullback James Tedesco around the ruck, taking an 8-0 lead into half-time.

Blues prop David Klemmer was immense in the middle cranking out 139 metres and playing the opening 51 minutes.

Raiders prop Papalii (128m) was equally important for the Maroons, tackling his heart out in the first half and then getting the home side on the front foot with his powerful runs in the second.

"Josh Papalii for mine has been one of the best front-rowers in the game this season," said Maroons coach Kevin Walters.

"Good minutes out of him, good work rate and everything out of him was splendid and we needed that from him. That second burst of his ... really did set up that storm home by the Queenslanders."

Cotric produced his trademark hard carries out of NSW's own half, including a couple of his infield mazy runs, and in a good sign for the Raiders continued to do so after his injury scare.

He clutched at his right knee after stepping off that leg into a tackle in the 61st minute.

Wighton replaced Blues five-eighth Cody Walker with 24 minutes remaining, but his main contribution was the intercept pass that put the Maroons in front.

The trio of Raiders will join their teammates in Sydney on Thursday, with the rest of the team doing the captain's run without them in Canberra in the morning.

AT A GLANCE

QUEENSLAND MAROONS 18 (Dane Gagai 2, Corey Oates tries; Kalyn Ponga 3 goals) bt NSW BLUES 14 (Josh Morris, Jake Trbojevic tries; Nathan Cleary 3 goals) at Suncorp Stadium. Referees: Gerard Sutton, Ashley Klein. Crowd: 52,191.