He can't sugar coat how far off the pace they were in game one but Queensland captain Daly Cherry-Evans is confident of State of Origin redemption for the Maroons on Sunday.
Queensland were humiliated 50-6 by a rampant NSW team in Townsville, a defeat as embarrassing and humbling as the scoreline would suggest.
Cherry-Evans however is heading into camp ahead of game two at Suncorp Stadium believing the margin between the two teams is not as vast as the margin on the scoreboard.
"There's lessons to be learned from game one, some big lessons, but if we can identify it, we can turn it around real quickly," he said.
"It was game one, and we got our pants pulled down and they smashed us but we're so lucky there's two more games to go mate.
"The next one's at Suncorp and really looking forward to changing it all."
Queensland will be without hooker Harry Grant after he aggravated his hamstring injury in Melbourne's big win over Wests Tigers on Saturday while AJ Brimson (knee bruising) has also been left out.
Seven-game NRL rookie Reece Walsh will play fullback while Andrew McCullough has been named for an Origin return at hooker, while Ben Hunt could be pivotal in the No.14 and forward Frank Molo will debut off the bench.
The Maroons will welcome back prop Josh Papalii while Cherry-Evans is also tipping five-eighth Cameron Munster to be a much improved performer after he came into game one struggling with a foot injury.
Coach Paul Green is adamant the entire squad will be fit to train once they arrive in camp on Monday though, removing some of the headaches that surrounded the build-up to the series opener.
"It's a very thankless job coming back from injury, especially into an Origin arena," Cherry-Evans said.
"We obviously got smashed and there's a lot of reasons why but I can't help but think players that came in without any footy under their belt like Harry (Grant) and Munnie (Munster) are going to be so much better for playing back at club land and getting those K's back.
"The game's changed dramatically and you need to be able to move with the momentum.
"They'll be good for us, better for the run for sure."
