Brisbane’s season is set to turn ugly after they were buried under a pile of spectacular second half tries by a red-hot Warriors at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday.
Unheralded stand-in halfback, James Maloney, who has drifted from Parramatta and Melbourne to across the ditch, had the game of a lifetime scoring 28 points — including a hat-trick of tries in the 48-16 thumping in front of 32,338 stunned fans.
Maloney’s personal haul equalled the Warriors’ club record shared by Gene Gnamu and current coach and former fullback Ivan Cleary.
Both sides suffered heavy injury tolls in a fierce opening 40 minutes on a steamy Sunday afternoon and this contributed to the scoreline.
Brisbane right centre Israel Folau (fractured finger) and winger Denan Kemp (suspected broken rib) left the field midway through the first half.
Within a few minutes they were joined by blockbusting Warriors winger Manu Vatuvei and skipper Simon Mannering who pulled up with hamstring injuries
Mannering made his exit after finishing off a magnificent try after the ball had swung from the left to right and back, passing through 14 sets of hands in the 23rd minute.
By the end of the 80 minutes, Wade McKinnon, who had a dislocated finger put back into position on the sidelines and Brisbane lock Matt Gillett (corked thigh) joined the casualty ward.
Brisbane’s injury toll now includes Test centre Justin Hodges (Achilles), young winger Jharal Yow Yeh (knee), centre/winger Steve Michaels (ankle), Corey Parker (knee), Folau (finger) and Gillett (cork).
Of those, only Gillett is any hope of being available for Friday night’s clash with the Roosters, smashed 60-14 by the Bulldogs.
Folau was booked for surgery hours after the heavy loss.
“The bone was sticking out so it wasn’t looking too good,” said the young centre who scored Brisbane’s opening try.
With their right side decimated, Brisbane simply could not handle the Warriors who threw the ball around like they did in the early days when they first arrived on the NRL scene.
Only now, they back up their razzle dazzle ad-lib style with some fierce defence.
They piled on six second half tries — three of them to the 23 year-old Orange-born Maloney.
Both Brisbane coach Ivan Henjak and skipper Darren Lockyer admitted they were concerned by the manner in which the Warriors scored so freely.
“I thought we were pretty poor defensively without taking anything away from the Warriors,” said Henjak.
“It’s always a concern when sides put a lot of points on you.
“(Off-loading) is a part of their game but it’s not unstoppable, you can shut it down if you’re committed.
“We’re off the pace at the moment.”
Lockyer said Brisbane were on the back foot from the time they lost control of the ruck in the second half.
“They (players) weren’t competing towards the end, that was the most disappointing thing,” he said.
Cleary said fullback Lance Hohaia and livewire hooker Aaron Heremaia who created havoc around ruck fringes as Brisbane wilted.
The win was extra sweet for former Broncos Joel Moon and centre Brent Tate whose strong running game would have reminded Queensland selectors of his talents.
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