Queensland captain Lauren Brown passionately called for change after the series conclusion, telling media \u201cit\u2019s crazy that our first footy for the year is meant to be the highest quality game of the year\u201d.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI just think it\u2019s unfair to the players and the product to expect us to be at our best quality of football when it\u2019s our first game,\u201d Brown added in the post-match press conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the NRL this would be their trial games, games one two and three, so I think the majority of the girls would love it to be intertwined into NRLW season.\u201d <\/p>\n
Hall of Famer and former Queensland coach Tahnee Norris agrees.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s frustrating because it\u2019s been years worth of trying to have these conversations with the NRL to get it pushed back at a time where these girls are actually playing the best football,\u201d Norris told foxsports.com.au.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the number one game for women\u2019s rugby league and the fastest game that you\u2019ll see and the level of quality, but they\u2019re coming off the back of nothing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The NRLW season doesn\u2019t start until July, meaning the women hadn\u2019t played a competitive match since the end of the previous season, some seven months prior.<\/p>\n
The Jillaroos didn\u2019t play at Vegas this year, giving many of the Blues and Maroons the biggest gap between games leading into an Origin series.<\/p>\n
Get all the latest NRL news, highlights and analysis delivered straight to your inbox with Fox Sports Sportmail. Sign up now!!!<\/a><\/p>\n ‘Young Maroons showed future is bright’ | 06:29<\/p>\n The Fox Lab stats from the three games don\u2019t make for pretty reading either.<\/p>\n There were more errors than points scored across the series with a combined 57 points compared with 66 errors.<\/p>\n Both sides finished with less than 75 per cent completion rates with the Blues finishing the series with 73.74 per cent and the Maroons just 65.96 per cent.<\/p>\n Game two of the series saw Queensland complete the equal fewest sets in the history of the women\u2019s origin with just 19 and the combined errors of that game was the second highest in the Origin era (since 2018).<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just wrong that they go in cold and are expected to play the best and the toughest game of the rugby league calendar without any match fitness,\u201d Hall of Famer Tarsha Gale told foxsports.com.au.<\/p>\n \u201cI think this year, while it was a great result for the Blues, they scored the least points in origin and the attacking flair just wasn\u2019t there. I think match fitness has a lot to do with it, if we just move the girls origin into the NRLW season, I think we\u2019ll get a better spectacle.\u201d<\/p>\n The format of the series sees the women play stand alone matches in primetime on a Thursday, this year was a ratings high. It\u2019s provided a fragile glass platform where the women\u2019s game been handed the ultimate stage to showcase the players to a wider audience, but without the match fitness, it provided a false narrative on what the women\u2019s game is like.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is our moment. This is where we get more eyeballs on the women\u2019s game and we get more people converted over to watch the women. And I just think it\u2019s a missed opportunity not performing at our best because we haven\u2019t got match fitness,\u201d said Gale.<\/p>\n \u201cLook, the girls did a great job. I\u2019m not saying they didn\u2019t, but it wasn\u2019t up to the standard that we were expecting.\u201d<\/p>\n MORE ORIGIN NEWS<\/p>\n