Justin Hodges watched from the stands but Brisbane were too good for an injury-battered St George Illawarra in their 21-14 win at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.
The long-awaited return of Hodges from a hamstring injury will stretch to six weeks for the Broncos but his replacement Jack Reed turned in one of the games of his young NRL career.
The Bribie Island product had a hand in both of Queensland winger Jharel Yow Yeh’s tries before barging over for one himself in the 58th minute.
The Broncos also lost Corey Parker (groin) following Wednesday’s State of Origin clash, but it was the Dragons who felt it the most with NSW pair Ben Creagh (ankle) and Beau Scott (medial ligament, ear) failing to back up.
Compounding their woes Brett Morris was ruled out of a comeback from the hamstring injury picked up three weeks ago against the Wests Tigers, Dean Young was a late scratching with his ongoing knee complaint and Ben Hornby’s comeback from an ankle injury lasted just 40 minutes before he was consigned to watching the game from the bench.
Ratu Peni Tagive, playing in place of Morris, opened the scoring in the second minute. From there a sloppy arm wrestle ensued with plenty of dropped ball and four disallowed tries.
Dave Hala broke through for his first NRL try in seven games in the 28th minute as Brisbane took control of the match – in particular through Reed and Yow Yeh.
The Queensland winger won a wrestle in the air with Tagive to score his first and then was the recipient of a Reed offload minutes later to open up a 14-4 halftime lead.
Jamie Soward, who backed up his first class performance with the Blues on Wednesday night with another strong game that stretched the defence on several occasions, combined with a runaway Mark Gasnier in the 52nd minute to pull the Dragons back into the contest.
Reed’s try and Peter Wallace’s sideline conversion stretched the lead to 10 but again the Dragons wrestled their way back with a Matt Prior try with just under 10 minutes left in the game.
But a Darren Lockyer field goal in the 75th minute ended any hope of a Dragons revival.
The loss means the Dragons have not tasted victory in their last three games, with two losses and a draw against Parramatta.
Lockyer, who was brilliant backing up from rep duty with a crucial 40/20 and the late field goal, heaped praise on Reed for his efforts on the right edge in both the centres and the back row.
“I think people are just waiting for him to taper off but he keeps producing every week,” Lockyer said.
“Tonight he played on the other side of the field than he normally plays and he looked like he had been there for 10 years.”
Reed deflected the praise, but said he was having the most fun of his young NRL career to date.
“I wouldn’t say it was one of my best performances, I had a lot of defensive errors personally,” he said.
“But I’m enjoying my footy at the moment. I’ll let everyone else say who’s good and who’s bad, hey?”
Wayne Bennett, no stranger to losing players at Origin time from his Broncos days, commended his banged up troops for their valour, in particular Soward who was one of their best after his hot game for NSW on Wednesday.
“I thought he was tremendous tonight,” he said.
“All those guys backing up, you just know how hard it is for them and they tried really hard.
“It was no fault of theirs but we didn’t get across that line.”
Both Hornby and Hodges are expected to be fit to play next week.
John McEnroe
Guest
The ball was good - can't you people see anything ! I'm sick of you guys screwing up all of the time. The ball was good !
Dean - Surry Hills
Guest
So you didn't get past the first few pages. As they say - never attempt to educate a fool
Hutr
Roar Rookie
Unlike all the humble folk of NSW...
Hutr
Roar Rookie
I didn't realise that you were an avid watcher of american family dramas in your down time http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Once_and_Again
roarlover34
Roar Pro
must admit i was laughing at the pure dumb blindness of Jared Maxwell. That was a joke. There was seperation of the ball with the dragons no try, that decision was correct. Can someone explain to me what the touch judges do???? They missed the foward pass, the missed Yow Yeh clearly having his foot over the sideline before he was tackled, yet the come in and interfere when something soft happened in backplay, or they call a flat pass foward see Pearce SOO game 1. They are completely useless.
Stu
Guest
When the dragons start changing clubs you'll find all about the salary cap, premiership players want more cash and get forced to leave. The Brisbane and Melbourne development programs are keeping this comp running filling other clubs with their stocks. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
Dean - Surry Hills
Guest
Are you saying Bennett has the mind of a mast ? Strong and flexible, yet mostly hollow ? What yacht is this mast mind attached to ? Wild Oats XI ? It's a pity Wayne's sailing for the wrong team next year. He's going to find out the hard way, that you can't buy the premiership any more, like he did at the Broncos. Steve Price led the Saints to their World Club Challenge win - while Wayne recently helped the Kiwi's to their victory over the Aussies ! Sounds to me like a typical Queenslander, where cash is king, and club and country don't mean a thing.
Dean - Surry Hills
Guest
Once and again - Snapperhead. The term you are refering to is "once in a while" - or "now and again". I'm stating that Oiks should use spellcheck at least once - and then again, and again , and again. Once in a while - will only be a slight improvement. Now and again - see above. Once and again - will be a vast improvement. Try utilising Google. It's this amazing search engine thingy, watcha- ma -callit. Type in Once and Again and be prepared for 313 million results.
Hutr
Roar Rookie
once and a while**
Hutr
Roar Rookie
I'll point out that they are 3 trophies courtesy of a QLD mast mind. The saints were outplayed last night plain and simple. Both teams had instrumental players out and both teams copped a poor performance from the officials. Add up the average age of the Broncos and see who will be the force to contend with in the coming years.
Dean - Surry Hills
Guest
Na mate - all the trophies worth holding will be in Blues territory within 3 weeks. Gillette (Matt) will be at your disposal !
Stu
Guest
Grub Gallen redefines the role of the prop huh, we bring you Hala. I'd love to see them go head to head as props. -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download The Roar's iPhone App in the App Store here.
One win does not make a Series.
Guest
Better hide the Razor blades if NSW lose the last game of the series. Deans so bitter and damaged after 5 series defeats, imagine what he would be like after 6.
Dean - Surry Hills
Guest
Proudly displaying all three of the 2010 trophies on offer at St George Leagues Club. Jump on a bus Hutr, and come on down for a look at them - because there's no other way you will be seeing them with your own eyes in the next five years. The only thing the Saints team actually lost, was the respect for the officials.
Dean - Surry Hills
Guest
The Sims boys - learnt everything they know courtesy of St George. Poached eggs ! Sowie outgunned Lockie - hence his super scores in Fantasy and Dream teams. Great kicking game from Lockie though - especially with his Alfie Langer style tackling techniques ! Take your luck, and ride your high now, because in a few weeks time you'll be crying yourself to sleep. It makes my day to share in the banter with you Oiks - keep up the good work (though try using spell-check once and again).
Hutr
Roar Rookie
Again with the water works Dean. Grow up, your team lost!
oikee
Guest
:) Running scared, where am i going to run, into the sea. Sam Kaseano, Tariq Sims, Aston Sims.? The Broncos let these players go and the league world was asking why, why would you let these young players go, ? I give you Dave Hala, this young manbeast will be ripping open more than a dragon defence. Hehe, i am about to watch the replay now, and what about our young boy Jack "the ripper" Reed. Hehe. Yippee yow yeah. Bearle, Copley, Hoffman, Norman, mate the production line is endless. Locky gave little Sowy a lesson last nite, hope he is prepared for a bigger one in 3 weeks. You know he's the man. ;)
Dean - Surry Hills
Guest
Oikee - Your luck at Suncorp has come a few weeks too early. I'm happy to trade all of the bad calls that were coming NSW's way in a single game, at the hands of my Mighty Saints, for game 3 and the Origin series win for THE BLUES. You already know that the Maroons are going down, you can feel it in the air, and you're running scared.
oikee
Guest
Love your work Dean, see you are already finding excuses for the blues team. Just pleased the Broncos won this game. The Dragons are free to bounch back now and continue their unbeaten run. Yeah da Broncos, your the best.
Dean - Surry Hills
Guest
The only youngsters who were too good for the Dragons last night - were the officials. Dragons denied three tries - alll dubious decisions. Broncos 2 metre forward pass was o.k though for a try. Broncos allowed another when Tangive was first to place hands on a ball caught in-goal, in a near simultaneous Yow-Yeh catch, and strip. Tangive's try at the other end disallowed, even though footage clearly showed no seperation from the ball. Dragons without 5 regular first grade starters, and then lost their Captain at half time. Good effort men. The proof from Suncorp is ominous. Watch out Blues - because the officials are crowd listeners and in the pocket of a QLD controlled conspiracy.