Cameron Munster says he needs to stop playing "in a dinner suit" as Maroons players collectively admitted utter embarrassment for Queensland’s record Origin I defeat.
Maroons coach Paul Green highlighted poor execution at training as just one problem he must fix ahead of Origin II at Suncorp Stadium on June 27, but the players say a few mistakes at training is no excuse for what they dished up in Townsville.
Munster had four weeks out with a foot injury prior to the series opener but said he lacked mongrel and his kicking game was poor in the 50-6 loss.
"I played like I was in a dinner suit, I need to roll the sleeves up and play a bit more mongrel and aggressive footy I like to play," Munster said.
"I probably should have got my hands on the ball a lot more.
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"At times I was a bit dangerous when I did have the ball in my hands, I spent a month out but there’s no excuses for me.
"There’s no sugar coating it, we’re professional athletes playing the highest level of rugby league and we need to perform on the big stage.
"You can be out for one month you can be out for two months but you just need to have a dig and have a go.
"Unfortunately myself and the team didn’t do that, we need to be better, that was disrespectful to the jersey."
Lock Jai Arrow agreed the preparation wasn’t ideal and they needed to be far better next camp.
"Our execution at training just wasn’t good enough, that’s the sort of thing that definitely needs to be addressed," Arrow said.
"[The performance] was embarrassing, we embarrassed the state. We’re lucky there’s two more games and the next one is at home again. We’ve got no excuses going to Brisbane.
"I have no doubt at all [we can turn it around], you don’t want to be living in the past but last year in game two they pulled our pants down again and game three was a totally different story.
"The beauty of rugby league is we get another chance and we do thank god."
Maroons second-rower Felise Kaufusi was gutted by the loss and said it would take some time for Queensland to forget the defeat.
"It was bloody embarrassing to be honest," Kaufusi told NRL.com.
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"The prep can always be better. We know ourselves in order to prepare for an Origin you need to do all the right things and we were a bit off in some areas, but we have to get it right this time because there are no second chances."
While the Maroons were in disarray with their defence, Munster wants Queensland to offer more in attack and play to their strengths.
Green said the team had turned to trick shots rather than structure when they fell behind and Munster says they need to be better at getting into their attacking shape.
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“We’ve got some key players in our team who are elusive, strong players as well and we didn’t utilise them,” Munster said.
"Dave Fifita we didn’t use him well enough, Gags [Dane Gagai] as well didn’t get too much ball.
"We just need to tinker with some shapes and make sure we get to our points and play to our strengths."
Origin II in Brisbane is sold out but tickets are still on sale for game three at Stadium Australia in Sydney on July 14 - get your tickets at NRL.com/tickets.
