Billy Slater is a man under pressure heading into 2025.
That, simply put, is not a sentence I thought I'd be writing after his first two series in charge, but the bottom line is that the Queensland Maroons simply must find a way to be built different in 2025, or they will be staring down the barrel of another Origin loss.
That's how bad the 2024 series was for the Maroons.
Not for a minute of the series did they look like the better team.
Sure, the scoreboard says they were in Game 1, but there were major problems in that game.
Playing against 12, they should have been able to put the Blues away without lifting a finger, but instead, they were clunky, struggled to do what they needed to do, and it was only when fatigue finally got the better of the New South Wales side that they were able to skip away with the contest.
That realistically should have set alarm bells ringing for Game 2.
It evidently didn't though, because, as the Maroons have done so many times over the years to the Blues, they were absolutely ambushed.
Bullied, abused, and smashed from pillar to post, the Maroons copped a record-breaking 34-point deficit in the first half, failing to trouble the scorers and ensuring they were already focusing on the decider before they trudged back out to the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the second stanza of the middle installment in this year's series.
Sometimes, you can't prepare for what was to come, but it's clear the Maroons didn't think the Blues had it in them to play how they did in Game 2.
After being wiped off the park in that Melbourne game, it was beyond evident that the Maroons needed to make changes.
Injuries in the engine room ahead of this year's series certainly didn't help the Maroons, but how anyone could watch Game 2 - let alone the coach - and decide Kurt Capewell starting, Felise Kaufusi remaining in the side, and David Fifita (in good form for the Gold Coast Titans it must be added) being left out was the way to go is absolutely beyond me, and most who have commented on team selection ahead of the decider.
And while Queensland changed the way they played in Game 3 through exceptional physicality and a will to hang on in a game where they were on the back foot, it was clear they were out-gunned by the Blues.
Felise Kaufusi had just a single very average stint at the front of the game, Kurt Capewell was decidedly average, and Queensland lacked X-Factor as they attempted to hang onto a Blues side who had it in spades.
That's not to say Slater didn't take risks. He made numerous late changes and clearly told his side in the pre-game that if they were going to be lifting the Shield at the end of the night, they would need to match the Blues' physicality.
The problem is they didn't, and never looked likely.
In fact, they looked rattled. That's not a sentence which has been uttered often regarding the Maroons playing on home soil, but it's the absolute truth.
Daly Cherry-Evans - long the veteran and guider of the team - had constant running battles with referee Ashley Klein, the outside backs, so dangerous in previous years, had little to no impact as they attempted to deal with the Blues, and without the influence of Patrick Carrigan, you do shiver to wonder where the Maroons might have wound up in the decider.
That all said, Slater is a man under pressure heading into next year.
Yes, he will have players returning from injury, but for the first time, the former champion fullback looked rattled this year. After two perfect series, everything from team selection to strategy looked wrong this year.
His comments in the media did him no favours either, and it's likely going to be a long 12 months ahead for Slater as he prepares for a chance at redemption.
That redemption will have to start at the selection table with numerous big calls. Is Reece Walsh the right man at fullback? Does Daly Cherry-Evans have another series in him? Why did Harry Grant just have the worst series of his life? Is David Fifita an Origin player?
Those questions are just the tip of the iceberg in the postmortem for Queensland, and if they can't find answers, they will come into next year's series as heavy deciders.
The aura of the Maroons at Suncorp, untouchable for so many years, has just been belted.
Held tryless in a decider must be the catalyst for a new-look Queensland in 2025.
Billy Slater must have his team built different, or he may not see the start of 2026.
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