It was the post-match reflection that kickstarted the Reds' season and has them clinging to the hope of ending their Super Rugby finals drought.
But the dressing room post-mortem of their ugly 28-17 loss to the Waratahs in March will only have been of true value if the Reds have learnt from their horror showing against the old rival.
While they lost their opening two games of the season, there were promising signs against both the Highlanders and Crusaders before the Waratahs exposed a young and inexperienced Reds outfit under the blowtorch of Australia's oldest rugby rivalry.
Reds defence coach Peter Ryan, a dual-code champion who, like had coach Brad Thorn, excelled in the State of Origin arena, said coaching staff and players were "gutted" after the Waratahs loss.
"I remember there were some pretty stern and pretty honest conversations in the sheds afterwards and it didn't come just from coaches, it came from players as well," Ryan said.
"They were hurting and we were hurting as coaches.
"Having come off the SCG where I saw so many wonderful games of State of Origin back I the early days, go down to the wire, for us to capitulate like we did, not only were the players disturbed by it and disgusted by their own performance, we were as coaches really disturbed by it as well.
"I hate getting beaten by a NSW team at any stage let alone a team I'm coaching."
The Reds won consecutive matches after that loss, beating the Sunwolves in Tokyo and dismembering current Australian conference leaders the Brumbies before another disappointing derby loss to the Rebels.
It's why Ryan understands that for all the passion usually involved in any sort of Queensland-NSW clash, the Reds need to keep emotion out of their preparation as much as possible leading into Saturday's clash.
"If I said they didn't have some sort of passion about it, I'd be lying," Ryan said of the young Reds' players anticipation of the match.
"We don't want to take the passion completely out of it but we want to make it realistic so we don't burn ourselves out before we get there on the weekend.
"But we also want to have it to the point where when they get out on the field, they really want to hit everything that's in a blue jumper and want to hurt it. I'd certainly be appreciative of that."
Injuries to several backs have left the Reds skinny on personnel heading into the match, with former Blues utility and regular flyhalf Matt McGahan to make his Reds debut at fullback in place of the injured Hamish Stewart.
But that underdog on paper scenario is the stuff of Queensland dreams when facing the old enemy.
"That's where the passion does come in," Ryan said.
"You've got individuals like Matt McGahan that aren't quite used to (certain positions) or they're coming in to cover injury and been given an opportunity.
"Taking those things into consideration, if those guys step up to the level that we need them to step up to, that's when passion really does take over and give us the opportunity to if we do get in front, really put the foot on the throat and go from there."
With just one finalist likely from the Australian conference and the Brumbies and Rebels already holding a lead, one of Australia's traditional rugby strongholds will kiss their already slim finals chances goodbye on Saturday night.
"If we lose this weekend it makes it really difficult for us to go forward travelling away next week to New Zealand," Ryan said.
"And then the games after that, it's a massive step for us to go forward in the competition.
"But if we do so, I think we still have the players that are able to compete at that level."
The Reds host the Waratahs at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday, May 18, kicking off at 7:45pm AEST, with the match live on Fox Sports, Kayo Sports and via RUGBY.com.au radio.
