Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow is threatening to break Greg Inglis's record of 18 career tries in State of Origin rugby league in just the Queenslander's sixth-ever game.

The utility back crossed for three tries on Wednesday night in a comprehensive 38-10 Maroons win against a largely 12-man New South Wales outfit.

The 22-year-old, who started his Origin career in just 2021 has already scored 11 tries after Inglis had set the all-time record for both state teams over 32 appearances while playing for Queensland.

Tabuai-Fidow's cause was helped early during extraordinary and nearly unprecedented circumstances.

The Blues were left one player short inside the opening seven minutes of the battle in Sydney after Joseph Sua'ali'I – Tabuai-Fidow's rival centre – was sent off from the field for the rest of the series opener for a high hit.

That moment indisputably changed the face of the match and possibly also the 2024 series for the Blues ahead of the remainder two games away in Melbourne and Brisbane.

"I don't want you to say a word," referee Ashley Klein told Sua'ali'I as a stunned Blues captain Blues captain Jack Trbojevic watched on.

"Very dangerous action, direct contact to the head with the shoulder – you're off."

Sua'ali'I also became the first player in 42 years in the storied history of State of Origin's 45th series to be sent off for the match, not to return.

The punishment will continue to be debated, but undoubtedly on the back of the last year's groundbreaking series to lose Walsh from a misdirected tackle could have hurt Queensland as much.

Walsh left unmoved on the ground at the time and later in the rooms the head injury assessment (HIA) assessed that the fullback was heavily concussed.

The 20-year-old Murri man took no further part in the match and is set to be miss the Brisbane Broncos' next match under the game's current medical protocols.

The hole in the lineup left the home side short out wide, and Tabuai-Fidow was quick to take advantage with back-to-back tries in the 19th and 24th minutes to push out an early Queensland lead to a near-unassailable 20-6 that held through to half-time.

The Maroons ball-carriers that included Walsh's replacement, Selwyn Cobbo moving into the centres, drew in multiple opposition defenders in both instances to expose the flailing Blues line only for Murray Tualagi to hand off balls inside to new fullback, Tabuai-Fidow.

"Hammer (Tabuai-Fidow) was great slipping into the fullback position," Queensland coach Billy Slater said after the meritorious victory.

"The team has adapted to adversity the last three years (under Slater's coaching)."

Slater had at one point walked out of his coaching box and down to the sidelines just to utter some words of advice in the first half that lead towards Tabuai-Fidow's night of brilliance.

The Torres Strait Islander completed the treble in the 78th minute after initiating the ball movement, finding five-eighth Tom Deardon in space that linked up a telling pass back inside to a flying Tabuai-Fidow, after Ben Hunt crossed twice in each half while Xavier Coates also scored moments earlier.

Tabuai-Fidow earned his hat-trick, additionally running 181 metres with the ball and adding three tackle busts.

Cobbo's game was worthy of mention after being named on the bench, leaving the Maroons short a standard big-bodied forward that added up to just two players when considering hooker Harry Grant is a lightweight in the pack which had been under scrutiny.

The Wakka Wakka man's performance vindicated Slater's call as for the fifth time in the past seven Origin matches the Maroons lost an outside back.

The move paid off in Walsh's absence for the final 73 minutes, with Cobbo seamlessly moving into new centre role for the Maroons as he has for the Broncos this year, and having a significant hand in setting up tries rather than being on the end of them.

Nicho Hynes was shifted to hooker in the second half after replacing Reece Robson amid all the chaos of playing most of the rubber with one man down.

The Wiradjuri man looked a shell of the talisman he is for Cronulla, where Hynes continues to dominate at club level after an indifferent second Origin start.

He missed a must conversion for the Blues' second try that seemed to sap his usual swagger and confidence under the pressure of the big occasion that is Origin.