Thorn pleased with Reds' fight

The Rebels outscored the Reds seven tries to three after Queensland was forced to play most of the match shorthanded, following a red card to captain Scott Higginbotham for a dangerous tackle in the ninth minute and a yellow card to Lukhan Tui for a similar offence shortly afterwards.

"It sucks that we lost. I'm not going to gloss over that," Thorn said after the match.

"We worked really hard in defence but it's tough when you're short like that.

"We probably lacked a bit of composure. It's a young group and they had a lot thrown at them tonight [Friday]. I thought they handled it as well as they could.

"We had five guys make their debut for Queensland and while it was tough for them, it was great to see them out there after working so hard in the pre-season. 

"It was a cauldron, but it's a good initiation and I thought they responded well."

The Reds will play their first home match of the 2018 season next week, when they host the Brumbies at Suncorp Stadium on Friday, March 2.