Brisbane have sent a message to their top four rivals, rolling the Parramatta Eels 36-14 on their own turf and marking themselves out as clear contenders for later in the year.
The result takes the Broncos into the top four – albeit ahead of Melbourne’s fixture against South Sydney on Saturday night – and stakes a real claim for a second crack in the finals.
It’s hard to remember that this Broncos team finished 14th last year – and 16th the year before that – and were such a bad defensive unit.
This team are a different beast. They manipulated the ball and bashed up Parramatta in the first half, before shutting up shop to keep them at bay in the second.
“We’ve still got some work to do but tonight was a good performance from us,” said Broncos coach Kevin Walters.
“I wasn’t expecting it, but we’ve been building through the last four or five weeks without our Origin guys, and there’s been momentum within the club, so when we got the elite guys back in, it was great to see.
“It’s an away game and we respect our opposition: Parramatta have been a great team for a long time now and then results for the last four or five years have been better than ours, so it’s a great challenge for our guys.
Kevin Walters (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
“We don’t talk finals: each week, we talk about the process with our guys and getting that little bit of improve in each other and our combinations. I saw a lot of that tonight.
“The big end of season games are great to be involved in, but we’ve had a good win tonight, we’ll enjoy that and we get onto the Tigers next week.”
A ten-minute spell before the break proved crucial: between the 18th and 28th minute, Parramatta did not have a single play the ball.
In that time, Brisbane scored two crucial tries that drained the tank, before the Eels had a man sin-binned that drained it further.
Then, with the lead secured, Kevin Walters’ men defended for their lives. With less than a minute to play and the result decided, Jordan Pereira and Kotoni Staggs pulled off a trysaver on Waqa Blake that more than summed up the line pride shown by the Broncos.
“I liked the way we went after it,” said Walters. “When you’ve got the momentum, you’ve got to score points and quickly, so that was good from us. A few things went out way but the good teams make you pay, and we did that tonight.
“We knew the possession would swing and it was up to us to defend that and make sure they didn’t get themselves back in the game.”
Payne Haas of the Broncos (Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)
Parramatta had previously struggled to get up against weaker teams but turned up against their immediate rivals; tonight, they were taken out of the equation by a Broncos side that was far better than them.
That will concern Brad Arthur more than anything. One is a question of mentality, and came with the implication that later in the year, things would be fine. This result poses serious questions about the viability of Parramatta as finals contenders.
“We started alright and then we had no possession,” said Arthur. “Still, we had enough possession in the second half, enough field position and enough opportunities to execute properly. But we can’t have six tries put on us.
“We had good energy in the second half, we had plenty of momentum and were coming hard. We had a try disallowed that would have put us within ten with 20 minutes to go.
“There’s no excuses. Once we get out there, for that 80 minutes it doesn’t matter what’s happened in the week.
We’ve got to worry about next week. We can’t be worrying about where we’re finishing. We’ve just got to be worried about next week and playing football that’s good enough for our standard.”
Brisbane started unconvincingly. Twice, they made yardage errors to gift the Eels easy position and were eventually punished: Shaun Lane, as he has done all year, stood in a tackle and offloaded, with Maika Sivo scoring an easy opener.
The Broncos weren’t going to sit down. They got a little lucky for their first try, with Brenko Lee’s kick rebounding back into him, though they made the maximum from what they got.
Lee kicked around Clint Gutherson, Oates hacked on for himself and beat Bailey Simonsson in the race for the ball.
The second was even better – Pat Carrigan feeding Payne Haas, who battered in from 20m out – and the third even better than that, with Adam Reynolds spotting Gutherson out of position and sliding a kick for Jordan Riki.
The momentum was all one way, with the Eels unable to get a sniff off the ball. They defended manfully after the Riki try, but were totally gassed.
Tesi Niu caught them wandering in the midfield and while he was stopped, Will Penisini held on too long and was binned. Moments later, Ezra Mam sent Kurt Capewell through a huge hole where the Eels’ centre would have been.
Parra needed something to go their way. Pereira helped them out, misjudging a kick and gifting the Eels field position.
A body light in attack, Parra unveiled an old-school run-around play to get the extra man, with Reed Mahoney creating the space and Blake getting the putdown.
The Eels needed a perfect start to the second half. They did the opposite. Blake dropped the kick off and, with gaps everywhere, Reynolds floated a kick over Simonsson to Oates to get a second.
The reaction did come eventually. Parra built pressure, forced repeats and eventually caught the Broncos on the short side, with Mahoney again calling the shots and this time, Dylan Brown providing the final pass for Sivo.
Whenever Parra found success, it was coming down the left edge. It might well have struck again, with Blake finding the line, only for an obstruction to be found in the build up.
After two repeat sets in the Broncos 20m zone, they went to the well again, only for Blake’s pass to miss Sivo and find the touchline.
It seemed inevitable that after withstanding so much Parra pressure, Brisbane would score. They did, in somewhat fortunate circumstances: Gutherson fielded a kick and ran across the line, Staggs went for the tackle and the ball came loose.
Reynolds kicked the ball on, got to it first and cemented a statement win for his team.
Gray-Hand
Roar Rookie
I’m not sure those were really bad reads - they were pretty all 2 on 1 scenarios with loads of space for the attackers. Very hard to stop a try in that situation.
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
Staggs has a great highlight reel already but the defences seem to have worked him out somewhat and time for him to adjust.
Red Rob
Roar Rookie
Agree, Hoeter for Pereira.
Nat
Roar Guru
Pereira may have been fortunate that the last few wins didn’t ask much of him but the one hit on Gutho doesn’t make up for the 3 bad reads. In my mind I saw Cobbo sailing away with 2 intercepts. Yeah, happy they got it done away from home.
Red Rob
Roar Rookie
If you need help drinking 'em, just whistle, I'll find ya :silly:
Red Rob
Roar Rookie
Syphoning petrol into bottles as we speak, comrade!
Nat
Roar Guru
Where do you think I am sourcing the tin? :stoked:
Rellum
Roar Guru
The Eels could score at will at times heading to their left. Staggs in the end just decided to charge Gutho out of the line to try and stop it as nothing else was working
Rellum
Roar Guru
Wasn't a great performance. We rode our luck and defended well enough but Pereira is a liability and him defending next to Staggs is just going to cause us all sorts of issues. Parra had little of the ball and we should have put them away but we let them back into the game with poor discipline at times and silly errors. Lee is ok, but I would be ok with Hoeter at centre but I would rather Hoeter play instead of Pereira It is great to be Parra down there as we haven't really done it for a long time but it wasn't an effort that will take us far in the finals. Need to be better.
Red Rob
Roar Rookie
When will they realise we only want to win it just to see them p.ssed off :stoked:
Red Rob
Roar Rookie
Yes jumping into DH when the D is backpedaling is perfect for his running style.
Red Rob
Roar Rookie
Make some spares, Nat, we have some big games coming up. I'm a M/L. Bonus if it can hold 2 beer cans either side.
Rellum
Roar Guru
The Broncs must be getting people concerned, our win last night is all but wiped from the Roar League page.
Fraser
Roar Rookie
Staggs getting the ball is anxiety inducing. He often looks like he's going to end up in touch or forcing a play that ends in a turnover. I feel much more confident when it goes to the left wing.
Nat
Roar Guru
If the penalties were for slowing down the ruck I would be with you but 4 offsides in their 30m, one high and one ruck is what I question. Now, where is that tin foil? I have a hat to make.
Nat
Roar Guru
Super impressed by the way forwards laid the platform against a good quality pack. However there is still a way to go in attack while Cobbo and Herbie are out. Lee offers very little attacking threat so he is not opening up the space for Mam. Even Oates had to cover Lee’s defensive issues and that’s a risky proposition at the best of times. I think i would rather see Hoeter play left center (even though he is a specialist right in QRL) Pereira can cart back strongly but he a long way off Cobbo in every aspect. Fleg played well but I would keep him off the bench for impact and start with Jensen. It’s good to start as dominant as they did but it’s a long drop in standards on rotation with Jensen, Hetherington and Palasia. Hats off to Turpin who defended like a beast but that was his only stat. Brisbane might be a bit lucky they caught Parra on 10th day of their usual 9 day fortnight cycle but you don’t put on 36 through luck. I’m nearly tempted to back them against the Panthers next week now.
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
Mate I'm not a big one for the game management thing. I think most of it is the team in front has the incentive to slow it down. All the good sides try it. Melbourne do it , QLD do it, Penrith do it etc , etc. And the Broncs are becoming a good side. If you take the 5 count difference, one is a home town gift , which all parochial home crowds earn. 3 are the Broncs doing what good clubs do . That leaves one for the conspiracy brigade. I'm not convinced.
Nat
Roar Guru
Tell me Sutton wasn’t trying to get the Eels back into the game in that 2nd half? 6 “offside” penalties when when they barely had any line speed?
Andrew01
Roar Rookie
Broncos were the better team and key moments and key players killed the Eels. The Riki try. Reynolds is set to the right at first receiver on the last tackle. Gutherson is right behind the ruck, Turpin does nothing to suggest he is going anywhere but right to Reynolds and yet Gutherson is shaping and shifting left. There is a line break, Mann or Niu try to kick passed Gutherson he knocks it down (chrage down technically) and it bounces back to the Broncos deflects forward off of him, Broncos regather and go on the attack for the next 5 minutes. The missed call from Sutton hurts. A later break Panisini makes the covering tackle and lays all over the attacker and gets 10 in the bin. There was no need to hold him down that long, the Eels had got back. Broncos score 2 tries while he is binned. The disallowed try to Blake seemed like a decision by Reynolds to bloke the lead runners gap. Eels clearly wanted to attack to their left. Problem is, that meant, Moses was not involved in the game, and if Moses isn't touching the ball 3 times in a set, he drifts out of the game. Didn't run the ball once until mid way through the second half when he created a break for Gutherson on the 5th tackle. Once again a big game and key players didn't show up for Parra - Moses was quiet, Paulo was non existent and Mahoney is just standing and passing and not challenging the defence at all. For Eels fans, it time to start looking around the 8 at which teams you could swallow your pride and root for in a grand final against Penrith.
jimmmy
Roar Rookie
Think you watched the wrong game. Set restarts 3 to 2 Broncs favour Penalties 7 to 2 Eels favour. Final posession almost 50/50 . If this was a GF. It's the Broncs fans blowing up.