Queensland coach Billy Slater forced the Maroons sit through a brutal video review of their Game One failure

Queensland coach Billy Slater made the Maroons sit through a brutal video review session of their Game One car crash - and he did not hold back in his assessment of their efforts.

Queensland coach Billy Slater roasted the Maroons in a brutal video session he hopes will deliver a State of Origin miracle.

Slater turned ‘Smiling Assassin’ when he made his team sit through a gut-churning honesty session on Monday night as soon as they lobbed in Camp Maroon on the Sunshine Coast.

The Maroons were humbled 18-6 by NSW in Game One of the series a fortnight ago at Suncorp Stadium.

It was the first time Queensland had suffered back-to-back defeats in Brisbane in 27 years following a 14-4 loss to the Blues in the 2024 series decider.

The Maroons were terrible in this year’s series-opener, lacking intensity and discipline as they finished on the wrong end of a 9-6 penalty count.

Queensland missed a whopping 54 tackles and made 11 errors in a lacklustre performance that resulted in the axing of captain Daly Cherry-Evans for next Wednesday’s second game in Perth.

The Maroons knew they were dreadful at Suncorp but Slater made them relive the horror show and he didn’t hold back in his assessment.

“It is what it is, review sessions are always that way when you lose,” Maroons hooker Harry Grant said.

Billy Slater

“There’s definitely things you really dive into. The momentum changes and game changes in that sense.

“We were all expecting it, to be honest.

“He (Slater) has definitely got that competitiveness in the way he wants to do things.

“He had that as a player and now as a coach as well.”

Nothing was glossed over in Slater’s review, which was particularly critical of Queensland’s start to the game in front of the state’s home fans.

The Maroons conceded three penalties, coughed up possession and gifted NSW a seven-tackle set – all in the opening 10 minutes.

At halftime the Payne Haas-led Blues had charged for 909m compared to Queensland’s 537m on the back of a 6-2 penalty count and 31 missed tackles by the Maroons.

The scoreline flattered Queensland in a way after Blues sharp-shooters Nathan Cleary and Zac Lomax missed a combined four goals.

Maroons winger Xavier Coates said it was an honest review and Queensland had to execute better on the night.

“We knew it wasn’t up to scratch so there’s a lot of tough conversations we’ve had to have, but it’s for the better and that’s what we are looking forward to,” he said.

“We’ll keep what was said in-house, there’s no need to tell everyone about it. But we knew we weren’t up to scratch in Game One and we need to be better in Game Two.

“The tough thing is we knew we could play better footy and we didn’t that night.

“It wasn’t as if our training week wasn’t up to scratch, we had a good training week, we just didn’t perform that night.

“We have gone over what we can do better and now it’s getting on the paddock and doing it on the night.”

Prop Tino Fa’asuamaleaui said Queensland’s lack of discipline proved costly after referee Ashley Klein showed he was in no mood for niggling tactics.

“We handed the ball over. There was a lot of ill-disciplined things we did,” he said.

“We’ve identified that. We had a really honest conversation with each other as players and coaches about what we need to do.

“We’re getting into training to practice good habits and find our game.”

Originally published as Queensland coach Billy Slater forced the Maroons sit through a brutal video review of their Game One failure