Bunnies vs Broncos: The NRL's biggest grudge match of 2019

This Thursday night, for the first time since last year’s sensational coach swap, Wayne Bennett and Anthony Seibold will go head-to-head.

After leading the Bunnies into a preliminary final in what was to be his only season at Redfern, Seibold became hot property and the lure of home enticed him to sign on as Broncos coach, initially from the 2020 season, with Bennett heading the reverse direction.

A fallout between Bennett and CEO Paul White forced the latter’s hand in terminating their partnership, ending an association that had lasted since 1988 with a six-year gap between 2009 and 2014, during which Bennett coached at the Dragons and Knights for three years each.

He had returned to Red Hill in 2015 with the aim of ending a premiership drought, but a heartbreaking grand final loss to the Cowboys in golden point that year would be his best result.

And so it was agreed that the coaching swap would be brought forward 12 months.

It was to be the first direct coach-swap in the NRL since Michael Hagan and Brian Smith, who guided the Knights and Eels respectively into battle in the 2001 grand final, swapped homes prior to the start of the 2007 season.

So far, the Broncos have been slow to get going, only winning two of their first seven matches, while Bennett has tasted defeat just once in charge of Souths – a gut-wrenching golden point loss to the Sea Eagles in Round 4.

Last week, though, Anthony Milford steered the Broncos to a 29-6 win over the Cronulla Sharks in what was his 150th NRL game.

Beforehand, the team copped plenty of criticism for fading late in matches; against the Dragons, Jamayne Isaako missed an easy shot at field goal, after which ex-Bronco Corey Norman stepped up to win the match for the Red V, while against the Tigers, Michael Chee Kam beat five Broncos players, including captain Darius Boyd, to score the match winner.

These two losses came either side of an embarrassing 36-4 loss to the Sydney Roosters at the SCG, where they racked up over 50 missed tackles, and the scoreline would’ve been a whole lot worse if not for Latrell Mitchell’s inaccuracy with the boot.

The Rabbitohs, on the other hand, withstood a furious second-half fightback from the Panthers to claim a thrilling 22-18 victory at the foot of the mountains to sit in third spot on the ladder, behind the Roosters and Storm on percentage.

They’ve also beaten the Roosters, Dragons, Titans, Warriors and Bulldogs, with the largest winning margin being only 16 points, against the Red V at Kogarah Oval in Round 2.

Not only will Seibold and Bennett oppose the clubs they coached last year, Boyd will also bring up his 300th NRL match, against the man under whom he played 292 games at three different clubs.

It seemed like only yesterday the fullback and now captain made his debut as a teenage winger in 2006, at the end of which the club would claim its most recent premiership.

Boyd has won another premiership medal, with the Dragons in 2010, also claiming the Clive Churchill Medal as they took out their first title as a merged entity.

He then followed Bennett to the Knights for two fruitless seasons, on either side of the club reaching the preliminary final in 2013, before returning to Red Hill in 2015, where he is all but certain to retire when his current contract is up.

(AAP Image/Dan Peled)

Another Queenslander will be honoured, with Greg Inglis to be formally farewelled by the Rabbitohs faithful after announcing his retirement.

Inglis could have represented the Broncos, after being forced out of the Storm due to the salary cap scandal in 2010. However, a last-minute pitch from key Rabbitohs personnel, including owner Russell Crowe, was enough to convince Inglis to instead move to Redfern.

In the Bunnies’ premiership year of 2014, not only did they beat the Broncos twice, but Inglis also showed what the Broncs were missing with a length-of-the-field try at Suncorp Stadium on Anzac Night, followed by a hat-trick at ANZ Stadium in Round 23.

Those results meant that, for the first (and only) time, the Rabbitohs beat the Broncos twice in the one regular season.

Brisbane fans were left to ponder what could have been had Inglis signed with them. Instead, with former Dally M Medallist Ben Barba in the side, the Broncos crashed out of the finals at the first hurdle, going down to North Queensland in Townsville by 32-20.

Ben Barba (AAP Image/Action Photographics, Colin Whelan)

The Broncos will be hoping to maintain their recent dominance against the Rabbitohs, having won their last seven meetings in a row dating back to late 2015.

One streak is sure to come to an end though – either Bennett’s winning streak in the sides’ match-up (having overseen the Broncos’ seven wins against the Rabbitohs) or that of the Broncos’ against the Bunnies, in which case Seibold would bring up his first win against Bennett in three attempts.

As this article goes to print, there are also reports that the match could be the last for James Roberts in Broncos colours, as he has been linked with a move back to the Rabbitohs, where he started his first-grade career.

As if that wasn’t enough, there promises to be even more fireworks when the teams meet again at Suncorp Stadium in Round 23, where Bennett should get the proper chance to say goodbye to the Broncos faithful, having had his desire to coach out the 2019 season at Red Hill abruptly denied when he was sacked last December.

So, if you can’t make it to ANZ Stadium this Thursday night, be sure to be watching with popcorn and drinks in hand – you will not want to miss it!