“Tonight wasn’t about winning for us, it was about getting better than last week.”
So said veteran Broncos forward Sam Thaiday, barely three minutes after his side had gone down 10-15 on Saturday night at Newcastle.
Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett produced a variation on the theme in his post match press conference, leaving mouths agape as he confidently announced, “Tonight was a big step forward for us. We’ve been clunky, we haven’t been able to consistently put it together. I thought tonight was a step in the right direction.”
With the Broncos sitting in 12h position with two very, very fortunate wins and three abject losses, surely these delusional outbursts were a sign that not all was well at the Clive Berghofer Centre?
Never one to miss the opportunity to pile on in, the rugby league world promptly piled on in.
Depending on who you read, watched or heard, ‘Uncle Wayne’ had finally lost it. Thaiday was taking the mickey with no appreciation for the seriousness of his situation and Brisbane were frantically arse-covering for highly ordinary performances against teams you’d expect them to roll straight through.
My personal favourite was Greg Alexander’s blunt assessment of Thaiday’s comments: “What codswallop is that?”
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Social media gleefully shredded them as social media does, bemused and outraged that Brisbane dared to carry such a sunny outlook after losing to a Knights team on the rise, but not yet risen.
Not about winning? What’s wrong with them? Winning is what it’s all about!
Lost in all the noise though was one major point: Bennett and Thaiday were spot on.
Right now, Brisbane aren’t about winning. Right now they’re about getting season 2018 back to basics and on track before things spin too far away from their control.
The ‘better than last week’ comments come on the back of their amateurish Week 4 home performance against the Gold Coast, beaten 26-14 by the perennially unfancied Titans.
That game seems to have been the canary in the coal mine for Bennett. He sees that he’s got problems, that they’re not going away, and that he and his leadership team need to urgently pull everything back into line.
It’s rugby league 101: respect the ball, get the go-forward, give the halves space to work. The Broncos are taking the squad back to school, but the classroom is regular season games and they’re using a different grading system to the rest of us.
Bennett despises poor ball control. His team are making almost 12 errors a game, good for fourth in the NRL and a big contributor to their having to make over 350 tackles each week.
That 350-odd tackles each week is the highest average in the NRL and works out to around 14 extra defensive sets per game compared to competition leaders St George Illawarra (they average 269 tackles each game).
All this defending inevitably saps energy from the attack and on that front, things are looking grim. Brisbane’s for and against of -33 is most uncharacteristic, but they have enough proven attacking talent to bring that back.
Broncos coach Wayne Bennett (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
Probably the best indication of Brisbane’s attacking woes is that Melbourne Storm prop Nelson Asofa-Solomona has more try assists in season 2018 than Anthony Milford and Kodi Nikorima, combined.
How many try assists does big Nelson have? He has one.
Milford and Nikorima are a halves combination capable of producing magic, given the chance. But behind a forward pack which is gassed from defending all game, there’s not much time and space for them to get down to business and bring others into the game.
Bennett has challenged his forwards publicly and you can guarantee he would have done so with even more vigour behind closed doors. Alex Glenn’s return this week should add more starch to the pack and, more importantly, some strong on-field leadership.
A few years ago, I was lucky enough to get a tour of a premiership winning AFL club’s training facility. Around the walls of the rooms were whiteboards full of in-game key performance indicators for the players.
Almost none of these targets had anything to do with scoring, technique or executing set plays. It was all about repeat efforts, pressure acts and the like, their ‘team basics’, as it were.
When these targets were reached, our guide explained, more often than not the team won.
All Brisbane are doing is taking a moment to refocus on carrying out their team basics, hopefully righting their heavily listing ship. If they can reorient themselves, the payoff can be worth much more than two competition points from a Round 5 game at Newcastle.
Photo by Matt King/Getty Images
It’s a big call to reset and refocus your squad during regular season games but if Brisbane want to achieve anything this year, they need to be doing it now.
There’s 20 rounds left in season 2018. That’s plenty of time to make adjustments and relaunch.
Don’t forget – after Round 5 last season, Brisbane were ninth in the standings with two wins and three losses. They went on to reach the preliminary final.
A small help is that their ladder situation isn’t as dire as it sounds. Believe it or not, if results go their way this week, Brisbane can be sixth – that’s how tight things are this year.
The Broncos face up to the streaking New Zealand across the ditch, then they’ve got the Storm in Brisbane. There won’t be a better test of their progress than the next fortnight.
As a club, they are aware enough to take a deep breath, assess their situation and take action to turn it around.
They just need to make sure they don’t hold that breath for too long.
Nat
Roar Guru
Sry 7 GF appearances for 6 wins in 30 yrs to Souths 1 in the last 40. Of course SL titles count (not that souths were in the running) as it's widely known the SL teams would've walked over the ARLteams. We can only compare how long they've been in the premiership. But if you want to go back to 4 team comps, my Brisbane Valleys Diehards are the most successful professional Rugby League club in Australia. Established in 1908 for 24 premierships and 2 wooden spoons, again much better than souths. Now you're not going to be so insular to say it doesn't count because there not NSWRL are you? They have supplied 17 Australian Reps including Australian Captain and Immortal Wally Lewis.
Roberto
Guest
supporting your team is one thing but hating on others is childish.
steveng
Roar Rookie
In addition, the Broncos won 1 GF in the '1997 Super League Grand Final' (which really doesn't count) so, its only 5 fair dinkum GF's in 30 years lol
steveng
Roar Rookie
Thanks AJ, good onya keep that soft spot for the Bunnies. I've been following Bunnies since I was a young kid and that's 60+ years, I've seen some great club games and test games in my lifetime with the no tackle rule, 4 tackle rule and 6 tackle, Some of the greats of Souths like, Clive Churchill, Erick Simms, John Sattler, Bob McCarthy, Ron Coote just a few of the Souths greats and of course the other greats of those times. i love Rugby League!!!
steveng
Roar Rookie
HaHaaa Nat, its more like you will be on holidays, come this September but, its typical, Bronco fans always add things on and/or need assistance like their side (e.g. refs) where did you get 7 from? Have a look at the list of NRL Grand final winners as the Broncos won 6 since 1988 when they joined the NSWRL's Winfield Cup. Their first GF win was in 1992 against the Dragons and they won 28–8, if you want the stats. If you think that you can knock me with 'wooden spoons' then I can include the full stats of South Sydney since 1908 (they won the first one) they won 21 GF's and were runners up 13 times.
Nat
Roar Guru
Shout it from the rooftops mate "1 premiership in 40yrs", Broncos have 7 in 30yrs and never collected a wooden spoon. The Broncos have acknowledged they can get better this year and their history of consecutive finals appearances prove it. If you're not on holidays in September, we'll have this conversation again.
AJ Mithen
Expert
I love your passion Steve! And I do have a soft spot for the Bunnies.
steveng
Roar Rookie
AJ, well I hope so as near enough for me is definitely not good enough! Souths have the players but, they have been lacking ticker wise for a long time! Against the Dragons, they have shown that 'if you have a go' then you can come close and/or win. That is all that we Rabbitohs fans want from our side and its great to see that the boys are having a 'real go'. Lets see what happens against the Roosters? Go the Bunnies!!!
steveng
Roar Rookie
HaHaHaaa, when was the last time the Broncs won the GF? Answer, 2006, 12 year gap and still looking 'no chance'. When was the last time Souths won the comp? Answer, 2014. Have a look at the 2018 ladder, Broncs, diff -33 (for 69, against 102) Souths diff +12 (for 100, against 88) and the Broncs are lucky to have 4 points, it should be more like 2.The Broncs have only won the GF 4 times since 1997 so, in 21 years there average is 1 GF every 5.25 years so, if you work it out that they haven't won any GF's since 2006 (12 years) they are way overdue and they most certainly don't look like doing it in 2018. Get rid of Bennett and the Broncs might have a chance, start again as 2018 is another dud year.
AJ Mithen
Expert
Steve - it does apply to everyone. But the Broncos are at least being up front about it. Do you think Anthony Siebold just sends the Bunnies out there each week telling them to 'win'?
Nat
Roar Guru
They will always have "at least we're not souths".
steveng
Roar Rookie
Does that apply to Souths about last weeks game with the Dragons? “Tonight wasn’t about winning for us, it was about getting better than last week.”? lol this could apply and can be an excuse from now on for any team, just use the Broncs excuses! What excuse will they use next week if they lose? lol
Andre Georges
Roar Rookie
Hey Baz, Mate don't apologise, that was a fantastic reply. Cheers for sharing, helped me see a different point of view and shed a bit of light on what happened with our beloved Doggies. Thanks again.
AJ Mithen
Expert
Great point about the kick returns Kurt. That's an issue that tends to fly under the radar for more clubs than just Brisbane. Is Tedesco the only fullback left who every now and again runs it straight?
AJ Mithen
Expert
Agreed Nat - there were much better signs last week but there's also a horrible thought we need to consider... Are the Titans actually pretty good? No, that can't be it. It'll never be the reason. :)
AJ Mithen
Expert
'More creative'... Love it. You can't fault the logic!
AJ Mithen
Expert
Hi Baz - for me the key point is in your last sentence. Brisbane have been around long enough to know this isn't time to panic. That's what struck me as odd when all the outrage started flowing...
AJ Mithen
Expert
Hi Paul! Stupid as it sounds, I think there's enough wiggle room in 2018 for the Broncos to drop the next two but still make finals. Whatever happens from there is anyone's guess. You might be right and they might have an ordinary year, but it won't be because they let things run badly for too long. Sometimes the other mob is just better. I'll ask you a question, too - what ideas do you think Bennett has run out of?
Kurt S
Roar Pro
Good article. I too was a little confused on where it was heading at the start, as was noted by another crowd member earlier. 28 points usually gets a team into the finals. If the comp stays as close as it is now, it might be lower. With 4 poiints in the bank and byes coming up, Broncos really only need to win 50% of their remaining games to be there or there abouts. Pangai jr has been injured and has offered plenty when on the field. Alex Glenn in the early games has been down on form and the forwards in general have been tackling far too much every game. Ball control has been woeful. They have Boyd running lame which has effectively dulled their bread and butter play of having him come into the line as second or third receiver on an attacking raid. They are also getting no usefulness in the kick returns from the fullback. I saw Sam and Wayne's comments to be honest and refreshing. Do the nay-sayers want them to make up excuses or blame the refs, Todd Greenberg or some other entity for their woes? People are lining up to chop down Bennett. It will be interesting to watch how he responds. He has faced this sort of adversity a lot of his coaching career. It will be interesting to see the result. I think the Broncos will click and scrap into the top 8. Most years they start of with a bang and drop off after origin. This year they may not have the Origin drain and may come home with a wet sail. Let's revisit this in September.
Forty Twenty
Guest
I took the liberty of looking back over the last four seasons at the ladder after five rounds and how much it changed by the end of the season. Season 2014 was the most dramatic and backs up the assertion that winning in the first five rounds isn't as important as it can appear at the time. In 2014 the Titans were leading the comp after five rounds and finished 14th , the Tigers went from 5th to 13th and the Dragons from 11th to 6th. Also in 2014 after five rounds the Rabbits who won the comp were 13th and finished 3rd , the Cows went from 11th to 5th, the Storm 9th to 6th and the Roosters 10th to 1st. In 2015 the Knights went from 3rd to 16th , the Tigers 6th to 15th and the title winners the Cows 13th to 3rd In 2016 the Rabbits went from 5th to 10th and the Eels 12th to 6th , while the Panthers went from 12th to 6th. In 2017 the Dragons went from 2nd to 9th and the Raiders 7th to 10th while the Eels climbed from 10th to 4th. I've only highlighted movements in and out of the 8 and this season is shaping up a bit like 2014 perhaps but those teams in the eight wouldn't agree with that.