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Brisbane Broncos 31
Sydney Roosters 12
The Brisbane Broncos have booked their place in the 2015 NRL grand final with a dominant, 19-point win over the Sydney Roosters at Suncorp Stadium in the first preliminary final.
It took a field goal to seal the deal for the Broncos, but the game was never seriously in question for the last half an hour as the Broncos ran away against a Roosters side whose attack wasn’t gelling and defence didn’t look serious enough.
Ben Hunt was absolutely magnificent, and along with Anthony Milford paved the way for some of the most outrageous tries you will ever see. The Broncos forwards, led by Sam Thaiday and particularly Adam Blair, were fantastic in allowing Hunt and Milford to run rampant over the Roosters defensive line.
Darius Boyd had his best game of the season, while Corey Oates put in a strong performance.
For the Roosters, James Maloney provided some spark, while Roger Tuivasa-Sheck also played well in patches. Their front row combination of Sam Moa and Dylan Napa were solid for most of the game, while Sio Siua Taukeiaho had a strong performance off the bench.
The Roosters’ bench was expected to dominate, but the Broncos subs, led by Mitchell Dodds and Jarrod Wallace, kept their momentum going.
The scoring opened in just the first minute with a huge brain explosion from Shaun Kenny-Dowall. After the Broncos’ first set of six, they put a wobbly kick down towards the sideline, with Kenny-Dowall there to collect, but he tried to throw a long ball in to Tuivasa-Sheck and Boyd came through to score the easiest try of his life.
The next try came from a Hunt grubber into the corner, after he noticed a massive overlap in numbers. The ball looked out of play for all money however Jordan Kahu flew through to bat it back in and Hunt was there to score.
In the 19th minute, we saw some incredible passing from Hunt, Milford and then Andrew McCullogh to finish off one of the best-looking tries you are ever likely to see.
However, the Roosters turned the game around, dominating the middle across the next 10 minutes, and Blake Ferguson scored a pair of tries that were almost carbon copies of each other, running over Jack Reed.
The last 10 minutes were back and forth before a long ball fro Hunt right on the stroke of halftime saw Oates score in the corner untouched, for the Broncos to take a 20–12 lead into the break.
Kenny-Dowall was denied a try on a 50/50 call just after the break, and from then on it was all the Broncos.
Milford scored in the 48th minute off his own grubber kick into the in-goal, not long after the Broncos had begun to dominate once again.
After a lot of back and forth, although with the game still heavily in the Broncos favour, Boyd having danced across the Roosters defensive line until he found Reed in a hole, who scored with ease.
On the very next set Milford put over a perfectly executed field goal, and that ended the scoring, with the Broncos closing out the game by slowing down the play and not taking any risks.
All in all, it was a brilliant performance for the Broncos to make the grand final next Sunday evening, although Justin Hodges may have a case to answer at the judiciary after a lifting tackle.
Meanwhile, the Roosters again failed to turn their minor premiership into a grand final appearance.
Minor premiers the Sydney Roosters aim to become the only Sydney-based club in the grand final when they travel north to take on the Brisbane Broncos in the first NRL preliminary final at Suncorp Stadium. Join The Roar for live scores and commentary from 7:30pm (AEST).
Following a strong win in one of the games of the season against the North Queensland Cowboys in the first week of the finals, the Broncos had a much-needed week off and will be feeling refreshed coming into this clash.
After the Broncos finished second in the regular season, many were saying this could be the grand final.
But after the Roosters suffered a first round finals loss to the Melbourne Storm, the chances of that happening were ruined.
The Chooks bounced back to record a strong win against the Canterbury Bulldogs last weekend, all be it in controversial circumstances.
In team news, the Broncos are unchanged from that win over the Cowboys.
Meanwhile, the Roosters welcome New South Wales State of Origin half Mitchell Pearce back into the fold. Pearce replaces Jackson Hastings, who drops back to the bench, with Matt McIlwrick the man to miss out.
The biggest problem for the Broncos this year has been how much of the game has been played on their own goal-line. However, I see this turning into a problem for the Roosters now. With Pearce returning from injury, and James Maloney not in great form, the Roosters could easily get frustrated and make mistakes, which in turn would pave the path to victory for the Broncos. It could well be a mistake to move Hastings back to the bench.
The big battle in this game looks to be Jake Friend against Andrew McCullough. Both players are pivotal to their respective teams’ performances, play a similar amount of minutes, and have similar, livewire back-ups in Hastings and Kodi Nikorima.
Prediction
The Broncos defence is going to be too good and they have proven in recent times they have points in them. Brisbane will get through on the back of a large home crowd at Suncorp and go to the grand final.
Broncos by 6.
With a fascinating preliminary final in front of us, join The Roar for live coverage from 7:30pm (AEST), and don’t forget to comment if you’re following along with the action!
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde