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Opinion
Okay, let’s acknowledge an extraordinary game by Ryan Papenhuyzen in Friday night’s contest with the Melbourne Storm defeating the Brisbane Broncos.
A total of four tries to Papenhuyzen. It was an outstanding effort and I bet he was absolutely stoked. Brilliant.
So the Broncos lost 40-6 to last year’s premiers. It’s not the Broncos’ biggest loss, but it sure is a reality check as they only competed for the first 20 minutes. It was alarming how easily the Storm recorded massive individual efforts and team cohesion to demoralise the Broncos. For the last 60 minutes, it was a whitewash.
After the Broncos’ win 24-0 against the Bulldogs last week in Round 3, fans were excited to see a win and holding the opposition to nil was really encouraging. Broncos shares went up a cent.
The shape Melbourne displayed was a Craig Bellamy masterpiece. Copybook shape with lightning-quick players in the backline. So they have all the attributes to make it happen again in 2021 without the GOAT.
It was said that Cam Smith was missing and Melbourne would need a recovery period to adjust. Brisbane had their two first-choice props in Payne Haas and Matt Lodge on the field. The two teams are miles apart.
Jake Turpin was impressive at hooker with good dummy-half service and he was very solid in defence. Alex Glenn was everywhere and had professional numbers in attack and defence but what does a captain say to his team at the end of the game?
So what does the top four look like today? Penrith, Parramatta, South Sydney and Canberra with the Roosters coming for them in fifth.
And the last four teams today are Manly, Canterbury-Bankstown, North Queensland and Brisbane.
So are the Broncos good enough to finish in the top eight in order to make finals footy? It’s well reported the halves 6 and 7 are out of favour and below par. If Round 4 was any indication, it’s going to be another long season.
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