well, the NRL partnership is paying him back, but still, its the principle of it…

The same way Gordon Nuttall got houses for his kids….

If it was any team other than a News Ltd owned one, the papers would be all over it.

Couldn’t happen to a nicer club. Hope they get at least one spoon – preferably nothing but spoons from now on.

I think the idea of the Broncos being a bad team for a couple of years (unlikely) would scare the NRL, a second team in Brisbane or one in Logan seems to be needed.

A level playing field. This Canberra team that absolutely humiliated them had only scored 22 points in the previous three games, and had trucked a stack of points going the other way.

Mick
Defence is a state of mind – true enough – all the more reason to think the media circus has upset that state of mind.

I’m curious to know the last time we saw a 56> to zip scoreline?

Given the players in the team, previous form this season and the club being in such a strong financial position (having fully capitalised on their monopoly in a rugby league stronghold including seeing off any opposition in South East Queensland in form of the Crushers and previous Gold Coast’s) I won’t be writing their obiturary just yet.

Maybe the cap, a revitalised Coast and the loss of St Wayne are all helping to bring the Broncos back onto a level playing field, finally.

But as I said before it couldnt happen to a nicer bunch.

Maybe if they keep losing they can go and start another comp in China or somewhere.

the rise of the Melbourne Storm will really hurt the Broncos future, together with the fact they have to contest with the Cowboys and Titans, plus these days the Sydney clubs do target Qld juniors as well.

In the past, the Broncos could almost boast having a State of Origin side for every game, and they pretty much had Queensland to themselves. These days are over.

Looks like they’ve reached a bit of a crossroads I agree Steve, but which way will they go?

They still have all the strategic advantages over most other clubs in the NRL, a maddive RL town all to themselves, the best junior program in QLD, fantastic facilities etc….

You could say hey have too many class players not to rally, but do they have enough in the fowards?

Now if i was in charge of the Broncos, my 1st mission would be to sign the best coach money could buy, offer someone a million dollars to coach the team, and then my next job and all i had to worry about, would be to grow full memberships to 52 thousand, where it should be by now. Thats all i would have to worry about, the coach would coach, and i would not have to worry about anything else. Bruno is a total failure at this club. Many people in Brisbane are not happy, i would expect crowd figures to show their disappointment.

The regular season is too long. At this stage of the year motivation decides nearly as many matches as skill.

Many are predicting that the Broncos can not possibly come back from their 56-0 loss against the Raiders. I reckon people are jumping the gun a little bit here. The Broncos are the Broncos and they always find a way to scrap into the finals. They did it in 2003, and they are in a position to do it again. Indeed the Roosters in 2007 lost to Manly 56-0 at Brookvale, yet the following week, they beat the Sharks and then went on a winning streak that almost saw them make the finals courtesy of wins against Newcastle, Melbourne, a draw to the Warriors, and a win against the Tigers in golden point. I predict that Brisbane will turn their form around against the Sharks. They are too proud a club to do otherwise. By all means though if they do not beat Cronulla at home next week, Brisbane do not deserve to be in the finals.

In Brisbane every player that’s a regular starter used to be able to get at least one TV advetisement deal.

How switched on were all the players when Hunt was displaying his atrocious kicking style in front of the cameras on the eve of the game??

Hodges is the Matt Hayden of Australian rugby league – a flat track bully whose tirades and posing only work when they are winning (how a ref can say out loud he said something that was close to a send-off offence but he doesn’t end up in the Bin or reported is beyond me…).

BUT

this article could just as easily (and if the Raiders were accorded any respect) should have been about how well they played.

“I reckon a performance like that from Brisbane has been on the cards for months” could just as easily read ” I reckon a performance like that from Canberra has been on the cards for months”.

For once instead of crazy second man plays the Raiders ran at the line and gave the ball to a future superstar in Jared Croker. Tongue stayed out of the way and Wadell excelled and the forwards played to their (literally) enormous potential.

Well done boys – they are the tactics that have worked against the Storm and others and show the true potential of this side (until the Roosters just pay all the good young blokes to leave…).

PS – amazing that in a week that the Raiders released conclusive evidence that the video ref favours teams over them (40% success rate plays 86% v opposition in the same games) the video ref was a bit kinder…

It seems to be a complete lack of attitude in defence. It is terrible. They all seem to be hanging off, then just throw arms out and get brushed off.

Noone can be bothered anymore. I must admit that I was surprised when they went so well early on this year.