Queensland Reds coach Nick Stiles says his side's tough Super Rugby schedule has contributed to their horror start to the season after they slumped to a sixth consecutive loss.
The Reds' spectacular second-half fade out in Canberra allowed the Brumbies to run rampant and put 33 unanswered points on the scoreboard on Saturday night.
It compounded a dismal start to a season where the Reds will be the last Australian franchise to have a bye after eight games in a row to kick off the year.
"It's been a really hard road for us," Stiles said.
"You throw in six consecutive losses on top of that, it's really mentally draining.
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"What we've got to do now is regroup and freshen up, because you could just see in that second half I reckon we were just probably physically ran out of a bit of gas."
The Reds' opening bracket of games has included fruitless trips to Argentina and South Africa.
"A big couple of weeks of travel caught up with us," Stiles said.
"We need to freshen up because the most important thing is we need to get the win against the Kings next week and then we'll have a bye week to really freshen up."
The Reds will have a golden opportunity to snap their losing streak when they face the struggling Kings in Brisbane on Saturday.
"There's still eight games to go. We've just got to win a game and get that confidence on the back of it," Stiles said.
Despite the result against the Brumbies, Stiles said he stood by the decision to drop Wallabies halfback Nick Frisby and hooker Andrew Ready after reports they missed a recovery session.
"I wouldn't change a thing about it," Stiles said.
"We're coming off some pretty ordinary years at the club.
"We've got to make changes and I feel behind the scenes we're definitely doing that."
