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As both Queensland and NSW camps counted the cost of a brutal end to the State of Origin series, Maroons coach Mal Meninga was doing his best to shift attention away from the bruising brawls at the end of Origin III.

With minutes left in the game, Queensland prop Steve Price was taken from Suncorp Stadium on a stretcher after being knocked unconscious by a punch from opposite number Brett White.

Blues second rower Trent Waterhouse was then sent from the ground and copped a grade one contrary conduct charge for being the third man into the ensuing brawl.

Meninga refused to voice his disappointment, suggesting simply 'that's footy'.

"Steve is fine. He's woken up, a bit sick and sorry but no damage, so we're all very pleased with that," Meninga said.

"Certainly he started it and Steve retaliated and Waterhouse came in at the end and got a deserved penalty."

Meninga snapped when further quizzed on whether or not Waterhouse's actions deserved a send-off, apparently bemused that the late action had taken the spotlight away from the Maroons' record-breaking four-peat.

"You got some other questions? We did win the series 2-1, didn't we?" he barked.

"I'm pretty sure we did. I'm proud of the team and the way they played the whole series, obviously we were a little bit off tonight."

Maroons skipper Darren Lockyer suggested his team-mates were not quite as forgiving as Meninga.

"I saw the replay, but a few of the boys were right there and saw the incident and they were filthy," Lockyer said.

"The game was gone, we thought we'd just take the tap and give it back to them."

"We didn't want to do anything illegal, we just wanted to be aggressive with our defence."

NSW coach Craig Bellamy looked to hose down the incident.

"He probably did come in but at the end of the day I don't think it was too malicious, I think the damage was done before Trent came in," Bellamy said.

"I thought the referees did a pretty good job, they put a couple of guys in the bin there at the end … they couldn't have done much more, the game was over by then, it was just emotions spilling over."

"It was only a bit of push and pull in that last bit."

Bellamy took a similar stance to Meninga, preferring to bask in the fact his side had avoided a series whitewash rather than focus on the stoush.

"It was (a wild finish), a little bit like a few of the old Origin games back when it all started I suppose," he said.

"One thing it does show is that there is still plenty of passion, I know we've been questioned about our passion and I think there was plenty on display tonight."

"It was a great win by our guys, they played tremendously well and showed a lot of spirit and character."

Waterhouse wasn't the only player to be booked during the match, Maroons halfback Johnathan Thurston accepted an early reprimand after an errant boot made 'dangerous' contact with NSW winger David Williams' head.

Meninga and Lockyer were in agreement the Williams incident was 'petty', but the NSW camp did not give the same verdict.

"Wolfman's sitting in there now with a fully closed eye and a bleeding mouth from a kick to the face," Blues skipper Kurt Gidley said.

"We kept our emotions in check when that happened, but obviously they went a bit wild after the first fight."

Bellamy reported that Williams was nursing a suspected broken jaw.

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With minutes left in the game, Queensland prop Steve Price was taken from Suncorp Stadium on a stretcher after being knocked unconscious by a punch from opposite number Brett White.