NRL Trials: Broncos dig deep to hang on against Cowboys, Griffin in hot water as Dragons defence collapses

Even though it was just a trial, the Queensland Derby has delivered again, with Brisbane Broncos taking out a 20-18 win over the North Queensland Cowboys on Saturday night.

Leading 16-12 at the halftime break, the Broncos dug deep to defend their line from one of the most dynamic attacking sides in the competition.

There was no denying it was a trial game, with both sides rusty albeit entertaining. Brisbane were the better of the two, earning higher a completion with less possession than their opposition, and continuing to deny the Cowboys who just kept coming.

The Cowboys showed flashes of greatness but were well off the side we saw last year. Missing 41 tackles, giving away seven penalties to five, and creating too many opportunities to just fall over on the execution.

Here’s what we learned:

Carrigan is a machine

We all saw what happened to Brisbane at the back end of last season once Pat Carrigan was suspended for five weeks.

39 tackles, 15 hit-ups, and 19 runs for 174 metres. He was easily the best player from both teams in this game, and will be a vital part of the Broncos attempt to finally break into the top eight this season.

Drinkwater is a star fullback

Dylan Edwards, Clint Gutherson and James Tedesco usually dominate the fullback spotlight, and Cowboys number one Scott Drinkwater often gets forgotten.

But he shouldn’t. He showed again tonight what a class act he is, and that the call by coach Todd Payten to move Drinky from the halves to out the back was a masterstroke

He was safe under the high ball as always, made one line break and one tackle break, had his hand in two of his team’s tries, and made one of the craziest goal line dropouts that no one saw coming and paid off.

Looking forward to seeing what he has in store for the rest of the season.

Brisbane will fire with Reynolds on the field

While the Broncos played well tonight, they also showed exactly what they are missing when Adam Reynolds is not on the field.

They just lacked the guidance a team usually gets from their halfback, and at times were looking at each other waiting for someone to ignite the spark.

And Carrigan cannot always be that person.

Fox commentator Steve Roach agreed, saying: “They just lack someone to lead them into the right areas, to direct them through their sets.”

New recruit Jock Madden tried hard while partnering with Ezra Mam in the halves, and there is no doubt that Brisbane have a lot of talent throughout the squad, but nothing can substitute for what Reynolds brings after his 11 seasons in the NRL. And the Broncos need him on the field so they can benefit from it.

Charity Shield: Souths 42, Dragons 24

Souths have picked up the Charity Shield with a comfortable 42-24 win over St George Illawarra in Mudgee, though that is only half the story.

The Dragons defence, and their general intensity, will have alarm bells ringing all the way from Kogarah to Wollongong.

Souths stormed to a 30-0 lead, and though the Dragons attack did make the score slightly respectable after the break, the inability to deal with the Bunnies’ metre-making and ball movement.

It was a stroll, and with every camera cut to Anthony Griffin in the coaches’ box, his expression dropped and dropped. He knows what is at stake.

Here’s what we learned from the Charity Shield.

Souths are going to be a lot of fun to watch in 2023

This was the Souths that we wanted to see: they chucked it, they attacked from the off, they made metres with ease. It’s the sort of footy that the fans out in Mudgee wanted to see, and indeed, it’s the sort of footy that South Sydney have to play if they’re going to be successful in 2023.

The Bunnies enter the season with a brutal draw that will see them visit the Sharks, Panthers and Roosters early on while hosting Manly and the Storm at Homebush. They need to hit the ground running.

On this form, they’ll be ready to take on all-comers. Granted, the Dragons are dreadful – and more on them later – but the way that Souths tore them apart early on will fill Jason Demetiou with confidence.

Notably, it wasn’t their typical try – the left shift to Alex Johnston – but rather Cameron Murray as a playmaking force in the middle and Cody Walker as a threat both creatively and as a support player. 

Souths’ issues last year all centred around their ability to execute an offensive and expansive gameplan. On this form, that execution is there and they can be a threat to anyone.

There were a few wobbles, notably a Lachlan Ilias poor defensive read in the second half that belied his recent improvement in that area, but by and large, this was mightily impressive stuff.

Perhaps more than any club, the Bunnies are most likely to be affected by their ability to maintain their consistency across the season, because their style will invite days where nothing seems to click. The trick is that they have to keep doing it.

Days like this, where it comes off regularly and, in particular, early on, will build confidence in the style. Last year, Demetriou was able to keep it up – save one brain fade against today’s opposition on a Thursday night in Wollongong – and he’ll need days like this to fall back on that he can point to as proof positive of the theory.

It’s already make or break for the Dragons

One shouldn’t read too much into trial form, but based on the limited viewing we have had of St George Illawarra, it’s hard not to look deep into things.

They’re the opposite of Souths: their draw is soft and their form is bad. They have to start fast to keep their coach in a job, because he has to have credit in the bank by the time the fixture list toughens up.

Losing to a Souths team in good form isn’t a huge deal, and plenty of good sides would have struggled with the best of the attack that was thrown at the Dragons. But that was only half the story: there were other scores that were very, very weak. 

Latrell Mitchell’s try, where he split Ben Hunt and Zac Lomax one pass off a ruck, was all on the defence and owed little to the strength of the attack.

Multiple tacklers allowing Cody Walker ot dance back inside them and score untouched was again all about the inability to read a fairly simple attacking shape. 

Hook can’t control the poor decisions of his defenders, but he does tell them to run a man-oriented system that relies on individuals to make good decisions. Not everyone defends like this – indeed, most have moved past it – and it might be the undoing of his side and, ultimately, him.