“He stumbled,” Andrew Johns said on the Nine broadcast. “I thought if you stumbled, you’re automatically off.”

Blues trainer Travis Touma came on to assess Yeo and deemed him fit to remain on the field. The independent doctor, used for the first time in a State of Origin encounter, reviewed the incident from the bunker. After checking the available replays, Yeo was cleared to play on.

Asked about losing his balance, Yeo said: “Just the contact, I reeled out of it and I was just trying to get my footing to get back in the line. It’s all fine.

“When [the trainer] didn’t initially come out, I felt like it was all good. I felt fine, I was making tackles straight away, so it was all good.”

According to the NRL’s concussion protocols, “if the player exhibits or experiences any of the following clinical symptoms or signs (in the context of a possible head injury) the club medical officer must conduct a full clinical examination and assessment for concussive symptoms. The tools to be used are a SCAT (SCAT5) and a full cervical and neurological examination.

“Possible motor incoordination (e.g. balance disturbance, clumsiness or fumbling with upper limbs or struggling to get up).”

The bunker ruled it was a category-three incident, a classification that requires a trainer check. Once Touma cleared Yeo, the matter was closed for the evening. Debate will rage long afterwards over whether that was the correct call.

The incident had echoes of the opening hit-up in the Souths-Bulldogs decider seven years ago, when Sam Burgess was involved in a sickening head clash with Canterbury counterpart James Graham.

Burgess played on, despite being told the facial injury could have resulted in him losing an eye, and won the Clive Churchill medal to etch his name into grand final folklore. Under the current concussion protocols, he would have been immediately removed from the fray.

Johns wasn’t the only luminary shocked that Yeo wasn’t taken from the field for a head injury assessment. The incident set social media ablaze, with commentators across the game also questioning the decision.

“If the independent doctor doesn’t see Isaah Yeo, I don’t know what they’re doing,” said Ryan Girdler, calling the game for Triple M.

Queensland coach Billy Slater would not be drawn on the incident. “That’s not my concern,” he said after the match. “As the coach of Queensland, I try to focus on what I can control for my team.”

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Yeo made an uncharacteristic error when he dropped the ball in the 10th minute, but appeared otherwise unaffected throughout proceedings.

He almost stole the game in the final play when brought down agonisingly close to the Maroons’ tryline.

“It opened up and I thought I was a chance of sneaking over,” Yeo said.

“It was a good tackle with Ponga coming over the top late. As I was playing it, I thought we’d get the penalty but it was right on the siren. That’s the way it goes. They won big moments, scrambled well and obviously got the result.”

Christian Welch and Cameron Munster were both sidelined after suffering head knocks in the 2020 interstate series.