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Brad Fittler's future as NSW coach is set to be decided when he meets with the board now that defeat in State of Origin Game II has put a series victory out of reach.

As Fittler insists his focus is only on winning the third game, Queensland coach Billy Slater has defended his interstate rival, urging his detractors not to forget the earlier achievements of his tenure.

Fittler is NSW's longest continuously-serving coach but Wednesday night's 32-6 loss to the Maroons at Suncorp Stadium confirmed back-to-back series defeats, and a record of three series wins and three losses.

Fittler has previously acknowledged there would be pressure on his job if he could not clinch a series victory, with his deal set to expire at the end of the year.

But immediately after the game, with the series down 2-0, the coach was not yet considering his future in charge.

"We've got another game to go so I'll worry about that," he said.

"Then we'll see what happens with 'Troddo' (NSWRL chief executive David Trodden) and the board.

"We've got a couple of weeks. We get an opportunity to tidy things up and turn things around and we can discuss it then."

In his first year at the helm, in 2018, Fittler denied Slater an Origin swan song by guiding the Blues to a 2-1 series victory in the fullback's last series as a player.

He followed that effort by inspiring the Blues to a win in the 2019 iteration, which featured a 38-6 trouncing in Game II and a last-gasp 26-20 victory in the finale.

Slater's stocks have risen in his second series in charge, on the back of his bold selection calls and penchant for oratory.

But the Melbourne great was quick to remind Fittler's doubters that the NSW coach was in his position after the 2019 series, sitting pretty with two shields from as many attempts.

"We are very quick to forget that," Slater said.

"He's done a great job with that team, to bring them together, to create a culture.

"Freddy is a great man. He's a great coach.

"He understands Origin. Don't forget that."

The Blues have now lost four of the last five State of Origin matches despite entering as the favourite in all but one of those fixtures.

Fittler is likely to make at least one alteration to his team after centre Tom Trbojevic went down with a pectoral injury but was tight-lipped as to whether he would ring the changes with the series now dead.

"No idea," he said.

"We'll see who's fit and healthy in a couple of weeks and we'll pick a team and away we go."

But NSW debutant Stefano Utoikamanu conceded any number of players could be on the chopping board as the Blues look to recapture their winning ways of the 2021 series.

"That's just how the game goes," he said.

"If you lose the game, they look at other players who are playing well and people who could fill a spot to hopefully change the result.

"If I don't play next game, I'm happy with that. I'm just going to keep fighting for a spot in this team.

"People come and go, you've already seen that from the first game to the second game. Second to third is not going to be much different."

© AAP 2023

Billy Slater is adamant his Queensland side can raise the bar higher again after thumping NSW 32-6 to retain State of Origin bragging rights and seal a 2-0 series win in Brisbane.

The Blues lost centre Tom Trbojevic to injury in the third minute but still had ample opportunity to build an early lead in front of 52,433 fans at Suncorp Stadium on Wednesday night.

The Maroons' defence held strong until their clinical offence hit top gear, coach Slater's men now eyeing the first Origin clean sweep since 2010 in Sydney's dead-rubber.

Slater preached of the Maroons' spirit post-game but it was a win built just as much on sharp execution of clever tactics with and without the ball.

"They're better than that too; they're just getting started," Slater said.

"Proud is an understatement. I couldn't believe how proud I was (after game three in 2022), and they just keep raising the bar.

"The stats have been against this team for a long time, they just keep rising above it."

Indeed, the Blues enjoyed 64 per cent of territory but paid the price for a lack of polish as the Maroons ran in six tries to one.

Captain Daly Cherry-Evans produced the match-turning moment, chasing down a flying Stephen Crichton then making a break of his own that led to the Maroons' second try.

"There was a whole heap of want in that action, a whole heap of Queenslander in that action and he had a whole heap of mates there to back him up," Slater said.

Valentine Holmes scored twice to bring his Origin tally to 13 - good enough for third on the all-time Origin list - fullback Reece Walsh was an ever-present danger and prop Lindsay Collins produced another barnstormer to claim man of the match.

There was drama late though with Walsh and Jarome Luai sent off for head-butting each other and Josh Addo-Carr sin-binned for a swinging arm on the Maroons fullback that both coaches were keen to play down.

The Blues' script was torn up when centre Trbojevic left the game with a pectoral injury, versatile back-rower Cameron Murray left on the bench and hooker Damien Cook instead deployed in the unfamiliar position.

The South Sydney rake, used on the left with Crichton shifted to the right, was heavily involved but often for all the wrong reasons.

Twice play broke down on his edge despite the Blues having numbers, while Jeremiah Nanai stepped Cook for an early line break.

Both of Holmes' tries came in his corner, the first a grounded high ball he got his fingertips on and the second a diving effort after calmly collecting a half-volley.

Finally the Blues found a reply, Cook busting the Queensland defence in broken play.

But it was a fleeting moment of respite, as Walsh again tormented Cook's right edge to put Xavier Coates over for another try before Nanai drove the final nail into the coffin.

Payne Haas (165 run metres, 34 tackles) was immense in a beaten side while Mitch Moses looked dangerous early as he attempted to fill the injured Nathan Cleary's shoes as Blues halfback, but had little influence beyond that.

Blues coach Brad Fittler deflected talk about his future in the job and refused to analyse his interchange use or selections post-game.

"I spoke to Cookie about it, that could happen and I thought he did a great job," he said.

'You can't cover every position.

"It would have been a bit more interesting if he (Trbojevic) was out there but you've got to hand it to their defence.

"Rarely did we look like we were going to break them."

© AAP 2023

A Canadian military surveillance aircraft detected underwater noises as a massive search continues in a remote part of the North Atlantic for a submersible that vanished while taking five people down to the wreck of the Titanic.

A statement from the US Coast Guard did not elaborate on what rescuers believed the noises could be, though it offered a glimmer of hope for those lost abroad the Titan as estimates suggest as little as a day's worth of oxygen could be left if the vessel is still functioning.

Meanwhile, questions remain about how teams could reach the lost submersible, which could be as deep as about 3800 metres below the surface near the watery tomb of the historic ocean liner.

Newly uncovered allegations also suggest there had been significant warnings made about vessel safety during its development.

Lost aboard the vessel are pilot Stockton Rush, the CEO of the company leading the expedition, and his passengers - a British adventurer, two members of a Pakistani business family and a Titanic expert.

The Coast Guard wrote on Twitter that a Canadian P-3 Orion had "detected underwater noises in the search area."

Searchers then moved an underwater robot to that area to search. Those searches "have yielded negative results but continue."

The Coast Guard statement came after Rolling Stone, citing what it described as internal US Department of Homeland Security emails on the search, said that teams heard "banging sounds in the area every 30 minutes."

In underwater disasters, a crew unable to communicate with the surface relies on banging on their submersible's hull to be detected by sonar. However, no official has publicly suggested that's the case and noises underwater can come from a variety of sources.

Rescuers have been racing against the clock because even under the best of circumstances the vessel could run out of oxygen by Thursday morning.

In addition to an international array of ships and planes, an underwater robot had started searching in the vicinity of the Titanic and there was a push to get salvage equipment to the scene in case the sub is found.

Authorities reported the carbon-fibre vessel overdue on Sunday night, triggering the search in waters about 700 kilometres south of St John's.

The submersible had a four-day oxygen supply when it put to sea around 6am Sunday, according to David Concannon, an adviser to OceanGate Expeditions, which oversaw the mission.

CBS News journalist David Pogue, who traveled to the Titanic aboard the Titan last year, said the vehicle uses two communication systems: text messages that go back and forth to a surface ship and safety pings that are emitted every 15 minutes to indicate that the sub is still working.

Both of those systems stopped about an hour and 45 minutes after the Titan submerged.

"There are only two things that could mean. Either they lost all power or the ship developed a hull breach and it imploded instantly. Both of those are devastatingly hopeless," Pogue told the Canadian CBC network on Tuesday.

The submersible had seven backup systems to return to the surface, including sandbags and lead pipes that drop off and an inflatable balloon.

One system is designed to work even if everyone aboard is unconscious, Pogue said.

Meanwhile, documents show that OceanGate had been warned there might be catastrophic safety problems posed by the way the experimental vessel was developed.

David Lochridge, OceanGate's director of marine operations, said in a 2018 lawsuit that the company's testing and certification was insufficient and would "subject passengers to potential extreme danger in an experimental submersible."

The company insisted that Lochridge was "not an engineer and was not hired or asked to perform engineering services on the Titan."

The firm also says the vessel under development was a prototype, not the now-missing Titan.

The Marine Technology Society, which describes itself as "a professional group of ocean engineers, technologists, policy-makers, and educators," also expressed concern that year in a letter to Rush, OceanGate's chief executive.

The society said it was critical that the company submit its prototype to tests overseen by an expert third party before launching in order to safeguard passengers. The New York Times first reported about those documents.

© RAW 2023