{"id":502379,"date":"2026-05-14T20:49:02","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T20:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=502379"},"modified":"2026-05-14T23:24:54","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T23:24:54","slug":"not-afraid-maroons-coach-defends-big-origin-gamble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=502379","title":{"rendered":"'Not afraid': Maroons coach defends big Origin gamble"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maroons<\/a> coach Nathan Cross has staunchly defended his decision to pick young NRLW<\/a> players, despite his side losing the first two women's State of Origin games.<\/p>\n

Queensland went down 14-10 in heartbreaking fashion on Thursday night<\/a>, with winger Jasmine Peters denied scoring twice in the second half after incredible try-saving tackles from Jesse Southwell and Teagan Berry in the corner.<\/p>\n

Despite a gallant effort, it was the experience of the big-name Blues stars such as Jess Sergis, Olivia Kernick and Isabelle Kelly that helped secure the series when it mattered.<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Player ratings: 'Disappointing' star goes quiet in narrow loss<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> 'Incredible' moment star saves Origin moments after injury<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

READ MORE:<\/strong> Sam Kerr exit from Chelsea confirmed<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

However, when asked about the influx of younger talent into his squad and whether he would stick with them for game three, Cross gave a defiant response.<\/p>\n

\"Maroons<\/p>\n

"I think as a coach, I think I've shown that with my time at the Dragons and now in Origin that I'm not afraid of people's ages," the first-year Origin coach said.<\/p>\n

"I'm prepared to back young players if I feel like they're the best people to wear the jersey and I firmly believe that the teams that we've been picking have earned it.<\/p>\n

"I'll continue to do that and I know I've got the support of Meeks [captain Tamika Upton] around that. I'm really proud of how the young girls have come along and look, the series (is) done now but they'll be so much better for the experience."<\/p>\n

Watch the 2026 Women's State of Origin series live and free on Nine and<\/strong><\/em> 9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Cross was forced to look towards the next generation for the 2026 series after an ACL injury to five-eighth Tarryn Aiken and retirement of long-time skipper Ali Brigginshaw.<\/p>\n

\"Maroons<\/p>\n

Chantay Kiria-Ratu and Ivana Lolesio made their debut in the series opener, while young centre Rory Owen is already repaying the faith after getting a taste of Origin last year.<\/p>\n

Upton echoed her coach's sentiment, shielding the squad's newcomers from the weight of the defeat at Suncorp Stadium.<\/p>\n

"Obviously it's been two tight matches, which we haven't been able to seal, and to be honest that's my job as a leader so I'll wear that," she said.<\/p>\n

"Speaking about the young girls that we have, they're honestly incredible and none of them should have their head down in that room over there.<\/p>\n

\"Head<\/p>\n

"They're outstanding on this stage to be in some of the first games of the year and come out and do what they did against a pretty established side.<\/p>\n

"So, it's on us as leaders to wear the final result but I just want those young girls in our team to have all the confidence in the world."<\/p>\n

While backing his personnel, Cross was blunt about the issues that cost Queensland.<\/p>\n

"Errors killed us tonight," he said.<\/p>\n

"We were 16 errors, 57 per cent, completion. You just can't win games of footy like that."<\/p>\n

Queensland will look to avoid a series whitewash when they head to the Gold Coast for State of Origin III on May 28.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Maroons coach Nathan Cross has staunchly defended his decision to pick young NRLW players, despite his side losing the first two women's State of Origin […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":502381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502379"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=502379"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502379\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":502385,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/502379\/revisions\/502385"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/502381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=502379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=502379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=502379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}