There is no doubt the Brisbane Broncos are in complete disarray.
There are many opinions as to why, including that former players don’t have enough involvement, that there’s no team barbecue after the captain’s run and that the winning culture is gone.
I don’t subscribe to the winning culture theory. Teams can have good cultures and still lose. There are always other factors at play, things like injury lists, umpire decisions and sometimes just pure luck.
However, most large organisations have a set of values that are designed to lead to good culture, and the Broncos would be no different. Resilience would be key on this list for most organisations.
Anthony Seibold was right on the mark in the press conference on Friday night. Resilience is where the Broncos are falling down and is also the reason they need change at the top. Anthony Seibold will likely be the first domino to fall, but if the team is not playing to the club’s values, the problem is more deep-rooted than that.
Anthony Seibold. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
A lot of commentary around the Broncos centres on their error rate. However, this doesn’t tell the whole story. Sure, they rank fourth-worst in handling errors, but they also rank 11th-worst for missed tackles and seventh-worst for total errors. Not great rankings by any measure but certainly not catastrophic.
If you look at the handling errors, only the Bulldogs, Titans and Rabbits are worse. This seems to provide a possible explanation until you look at some of the numbers surrounding that. The Broncos have committed 99 handling errors across their ten games. The next three clubs on the list, all with fewer than a five-error gap to the Broncos, are the Roosters, Eels and Raiders.
Clubs like the Roosters, Eels and Raiders pride themselves on strong defensive work to cancel out the errors made. When they do lead to tries, these clubs do something about it. Trent Robinson was livid about the Roosters letting in four tries last Thursday night against the Raiders. You can bet the Roosters will be intense in the defensive work next weekend.
Whereas these clubs can generally defend against these errors, the Broncos cannot. They’ve had the most points scored against them of any team in the NRL this season. As per earlier in the article, it’s not missed tackles; it’s more a case of poor misreads in defence, lack of communication or, worse still, a lack of effort in the one-percenters such as cover defence.
While Brodie Croft made a bad miss on Luciano Leilua that lead to the ‘dropout’ try on Friday night, the fact that no-one appeared to know that the short dropout was on or got across in cover defence until it was too late is really inexcusable for a first-grade team.
It was the low point of the 48-0 loss to the Tigers and arguably the low point of the Broncos season, even taking into account the 59-0 loss to the Roosters earlier in the year.
Either the confidence levels are so low that the players are unwilling to make a mistake or the team camaraderie is simply not there.
Kotoni Staggs will be back from injury shortly and David Fifita is not too far away. You would imagine the return of two high-quality players will lead to an improvement in performance. However, these two won’t change the course of the Broncos season unless these cultural issues are sorted out.
When cultures fail in an organisation board members and senior management tend to be shown the door. For the Broncos, some senior players need to go when injuries abate. Seibold will likely go, but all of this could be in vain without change at the very top.
Crow
Roar Pro
You nailed it Steve. Paul White should go too. Seibold won’t win five from the last ten games. The next games are Storm, Sharks, Rabbitohs, Raiders, Dragons, Roosters, Panthers, Titans, Eels, and finally the Cowboys. They might win the Dragons, Titans and Cowboys matches but that is only 3/10. I expect seven losses.
Crow
Roar Pro
Yes. Luke and Te’o. When did the BB’s become a retirement club. The team looks a little better this week with some fresh faces but Boyd is still in the 4 jersey. Hmmmm
Kilgore Trout
Roar Rookie
Seibold has put a broom through the place ! They let a heap of experience go , and then sign Luke and Teo . Really ? I think the coach rushed the future a little too soon and will now have to try to ride out the mistake for as long as he can . What I can't understand is , they looked pretty good in Rounds 1 and 2 . Everyone was talking about Croft being the missing piece etc . Buy of the year ! Something personal must have gone on during the shutdown is my only guess . Or it could just be injuries . They are missing some troops .
Peximus
Guest
Dud coach with dud players = dud attitude = 30+ something Nil scoreline everytime! Need to let loose with the axe to weed out all the duds!
David Holden
Roar Guru
I think a better attitude leads to resilience.
David Holden
Roar Guru
sorry, what?
Adam
Roar Guru
Seibold is evidently there for this year at this stage. I think this weekend was the first time that it has properly hit home it seems. I don't necessarily think that changing the starting side massively will change their fortunes. Milford had more passes this game than he has all year. He also had over 400 kicking metres as well. Boyd actually played reasonably well and took plenty of difficult carries from his end. I have a couple of theories as to what has gone wrong this year: 1. the captain merry-go-round was all a little stupid. I think Boyd has the respect of the players and should have remained captain. The captain does not have to be the best player on the field. Sieblod allowed last years pokies at 1am thing to detract from the club too much. He had a chance to back up his team but instead threw a whole bunch of guys under the bus, he lost the locker room in the offseason. 2. He brought in Croft and had a game centred around his abilities and the team could live or die by this plan - and they're dying. There was a moment late in the 2nd half on Friday night where I think Milford decide to say "stuff it" and completely took over for the rest of the game. He had more runs, passes and kicks that Croft did. 3. They lost too much strength in the middle with the retirement of Gillett, Mcguire moving on and the shunting of McCullough. Now I know Gillett and McGuire were unavoidable but that's what 600 games of experience? That they made no attempts to remedy. I watched the Cowboys game and the little efforts that McGuire was making at the very end is what the Broncos sorely miss this year. 4. Alfie is toxic. I can't help but wonder if his presence has become counter-productive to coach and team cohesion. There's more that's wrong and some of these can't be fixed per say as they were oversights made in the past. But jeez they suck this year.
Adam
Roar Guru
Attitude. But hard to turn that around me thinks
Nat
Roar Rookie
Resillience or attitude?
Nat
Roar Rookie
On field results are be reflected in the share price kk. Bennett had it back up to a 5yr high in 2017 where Broncos finished 3rd and went to a prelim final. A successful Broncos club gets more eyeballs on primetime TV = Ad revenue. He might not care too much for the team but he does care about the investors.
kk
Roar Pro
Broncos have an excellent balance sheet with a solid track record...so says the analysis. That must be the only reason Murdoch retains the hierarchy. They had somehow assembled arguably the best talent list ever seen at the NRL level. As a citizen of the USA Lachlan must now be too busy or even care about his Rugby League team. A $40M outfit would be petty cash. It's broken mate and it needs fixing urgently starting with a new coach and an experienced showrunner for the football department. I understand News Corp is the owner of this august publication.
Greg
Guest
The problem is simply their spine players. Shaun Johnson has more try assists than the entire Broncos team.
Crow
Roar Pro
Good work. You are all over it. Maybe you can get a coaching job at the Bulldogs. Maybe you can rally the troops better than Dean Pay. I hear there is a top job at the Titans coming up. Put your resume in. You’ve got all the answers. Maybe you can help the hapless Cowboys. Welcome to first grade. There are no easy games. ‘Maybe this maybe that’. If it’s was simple…. wake up and smell the coffee boy. Chase the facts champ. Just cause you’re team sucks you don’t need to bring in politics. The for and against is accurate. The Broncos are washed up and can’t even win five of the last out of ten. Edited 8 minutes ago defend Boyd, Milford and Seibold. Take a bow. Your the only one in Australia. I guess you have some insight to support your theory despite the majority of NRL fans suggesting they need to go. Seibold is a good assistant coach. Never been tested on the big stage. Boyd is well past his used by date. It’s embarrassing. Milford should go to English super league as soon as they resume.
Succhi
Roar Rookie
The Broncos are a business, more so than other clubs being publicly listed. As a business, they are profitable, but share prices have been declining since 2018. The comedy of errors in management will be felt in the next 6 months with declining revenues and possible payouts to senior executives- including the coach. With basically no crowd revenue, declining membership, declining sponsorship, leagues club impacted by COVID and declining merchandise sales - as a company, things aren’t looking good. The only bright light is News Corp have deep pockets.
Crow
Roar Pro
Glenn won’t be talking much behind the goal line. He’s out injured for six more weeks. Carrigan doesn’t have the experience as you rightly point out and Boyd is well past his used by date. The Broncos need a big broom to sweep through the place.
JGK
Roar Guru
Resilience isn’t THE problem, it’s A problem.
Gray-Hand
Roar Rookie
Glenn is probably a decent bloke, but I’d bet anything that before this season, he had never once been the guy doing the talking behind the posts. He has never been a team leader, and only got the position by default because all the other senior players had left or been moved on. Of those remaining, Lodge was obviously unsuitable, Milford would have been even worse and Boyd had played himself out of the position. The Broncos thought little enough of Glenn that they were trying to trade him last year. How do the Broncos expect any of the players to follow Glenn? The fact that Carrigan, a 22 year old, 28 game newbie who started the season as probably the 5th or 6th picked forward is even within earshot of the conversation of who should be captain is a disgraceful indictment on the Broncos roster management. That’s clown shoes ridiculous.
Steve
Guest
I would look directly at the chairman Karl Morris. Remove the head and the fish won’t rot. He has been there for two years and look at the mess since. I don’t think he had the credentials to be there other than politic mongering. The latest 5/10 policy is a rubbish policy that lacks any intent or purpose for the broncos .
Phil
Roar Rookie
Resilience, the most over-used and mis-sed word in RL commentary today. To be resilient is to be able to come back from adversity, to bounce back to where you should be. Brisbane are definitely not coming back from the hidings they are copping. We all have our opinions and mine is it's an attitude problem. The attitude of the board in hiring Siebold, Lockyer in saying Siebold's the right coach, thinking a bunch of youngsters can play top grade RL without experienced old hard heads who were sent packing and the perceived attitude of the players themselves who have a don't care, far away look after every try scored against them. Maybe a change in attitude from the top to realise the mistake they made and bring in a coach who has the Broncos at heart will help.
ferret
Guest
I recall QLD SoO players talking about how calm Lockyer, Smith, Thurston were when addressing the troops behind the try-line, even if they were well behind on the scoreboard. Who do the Broncos turn to behind the line? Pat Carrigan? Now, I think Carrigan is a very good young player with a big heart but he's 22 and played 28 games. I doubt he can speak with much authority to convince his troops. So, who else? Boyd was stripped of the captaincy, Glenn perhaps? But beyond individual resilience I see little evidence of a plan in defence, and this is a coaching, training issue.