“Not all doom and gloom”: Parker says Maroons can still win Women's State of Origin despite losing series opener

Queensland Origin great Corey Parker believes the Maroons showed enough fight to still win the Women’s State of Origin series despite losing the series opener at Suncorp Stadium last night.

In the first ever three-game series, the NSW Blues won Game One resoundingly 22-12 in front of a record crowd of 25,492 fans.

The Blues started strongly, scoring twice inside the first 10 minutes through Emma Tonegato and Jamie Chapman, and Queensland never pressured the scoreboard from there.

Criticisms have come of Queensland’s spine and lack of energy at the start of the game, but Parker has implored fans not to give up, despite the disappointing scoreline.

“We’re Queenslanders, this is exactly how we like it so it’s not all doom and gloom, but they need to address a few issues,” Parker said on SENQ Breakfast with Pat & Heals.

“I just thought at different stages we looked really slow. Whether that was fatigue or not I’m not sure but at different points I thought NSW were far superior on the ground with fast play the balls and poking their nose through and making some real momentum.

“It’s an area QLD will have to fix moving forward and they showed glimpses in the second half that they can certainly get the job done but it’s going to be an uphill task going to Newcastle 1-0 down in the series.”

Parker believes that despite the team not combining as desired, Queensland will resist the urge to make changes.

“I don’t think they’ll make too many (changes) but there’s the opportunity to maybe tinker with a few things. The thing with that is, while you want to make some changes, I don’t think they’re blessed with depth in some positions,” Parker said.

“Ali’s (Brigginshaw) spent a long time of her career playing in the 7 jersey and playing that dominant role and now there’s been a change in regard to that… (with) Desinty (Brill) at hooker, Tarryn (Aiken) at 6 and Ali at 13.

“There were some mismatches right across the park but in the second half the Queenslanders rolled their sleeves up and started to make an indent."

Queensland will need to win Game Two in Newcastle to ensure they are still a chance of taking out the series, with the game on track to be a sell-out on June 6th.