Queensland coach Mal Meninga does not want to make changes to the team that lost 18-10 to New South Wales in last night’s State of Origin series opener, despite inevitable calls for Scott Prince to be picked in the team for Game II.
Titans playmaker Prince was controversially left out of the Maroons squad despite being one of the form players of the NRL in 2008, with Brisbane fullback Karmichael Hunt getting the nod at five-eighth in place of the injured Darren Lockyer.
Last night Hunt was forced to do plenty of tackling in a rare appearance in the front line of defence, but while the youngster defended well he provided very little support for halves partner Johnathan Thurston in attack.
Meninga said it wasn’t an easy game for any of his players.
“It was a tough night for us,” he said.
“Obviously we’re a little bit disappointed with our performance. But full marks to them, they put us off our game.
“We made a lot of errors, some of our decision-making was a little off tonight, some of our execution was certainly off tonight. So it’s something we’ve got to work on for Game II.”
Queensland chairman of selectors Des Morris expected another push for Prince to get a call-up for Origin II, but defended Hunt’s performance.
“I don’t think any fair minded person would say K [Hunt] caused us to play the way we did or caused our defeat,” Morris said.
“His defence was strong, which was the reason he was in there, and I thought he had a pretty good game to be honest.”
Meninga said he did not regret selecting Hunt in the No.6 jersey ahead of Prince, and wanted to keep the bulk of the squad for the second match in Brisbane.
“I thought it went very well, Karmichael was very comfortable there,” Meninga said.
“It’s easy after the fact to say maybe we could have picked this player or that player, but the truth of the matter is we went with the team that we thought would do the job.
“We didn’t play well tonight, they did. Now it’s on to Game II.
“I’m a fairly loyal character, and whilst we’re disappointed with our performance, I’d like to give these blokes an opportunity to make amends.”
