Set of Six: No.1 gun fires as Broncos edge Dolphins in instant classic, Pez dispenser stars as Storm sink bumbling Tigers

Local derbies sometimes don’t live up to the pre-game hype. There was plenty of hullabaloo in Brisbane this week in the lead-up to the Broncos’ first showdown with the Dolphins and the contest matched the build-up. 

In front of a sell-out Suncorp Stadium crowd, the NRL’s newest franchise stood up to the competition’s biggest one, writing the first chapter in what will be an integral part of rugby league folklore.

As for the on-field action, there was a high intensity throughout with a bit of push and shove thrown in, blood was spilled and in the end, the result was not sealed until Broncos centre Kotoni Staggs ran the length of the field in the 79th minute for an 18-12 victory.

There was an Origin intensity but without the lopsided crowd advantage that comes with 50,000 Maroons fans booing the bejeesus out of the Blues.

Jamayne Isaako is tackled. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

This was a Dolphins home game being held on the Broncos’ turf leading to an even, but still buzzing, atmosphere for the top-of-the-table clash featuring combatants who had not lost in the first three rounds. 

“We were behind on the scoreboard but that’s the only place we lost tonight,” Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett said. “We’ve set a high standard for the rest of time. We had 50-000 plus here tonight and there will be 50,000 plus next time we play because no one would leave here disappointed in either side, it was a great game of football.

“We were both imperfect but the effort by both sides was outstanding.”

1. A contest for the ages

The Battle of Brisbane or River City Rumble, whatever this grudge match ends up being known by, it’s already an established rivalry irrespective of what Broncos coach Kevin Walters tries to say. 

In the 23rd minute, Reece Walsh got on the outside of Anthony Milford, who looks like he’s not in the best physical shape, and spun the ball through the hands for Jesse Arthars to plunge over in the corner for what turned out to be the only points of the first half. 

The Brisbane fullback accelerated around Dolphins half Sean O’Sullivan to give Cobbo a short sprint to the line 10 minutes into the second half to make it 8-0. 

Jarrod Wallace barged over for a try against his original club to cut the deficit to two midway through the second half and five minute later, Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow scorched across the Suncorp turf to chase down an Anthony Milford grubber and make it 12-8 to the newbies. 

With 10 minutes left, Reynolds sniffed out a gap in the centre of the field and Kurt Capewell turned back the clock to his early days on the Cronulla wing to just outpace Tabuai-Fidow to score in the corner. Reynolds curled the conversion over to put the Broncos ahead by a nose in the finishing straight.

When Staggs retrieved a Milford kick and sped away from the cover defence to seal the result, he screamed “our f—ing home” while pointing to the turf to add an extra layer of theatrics to the league’s new rivalry.

Brisbane sit in outright first and will be the only team with a 4-0 record at the end of the round with Manly, who have had a bye already, a chance to join them on eight points if they beat Souths on Saturday night.

Circle your calendar or set an alert on your device if you prefer the modern methods for July 1 for the next instalment in the Brisbane derby which will be held at The Gabba due to the Women’s World Cup soccer tournament taking over Suncorp Stadium. 

2. The No.1 gun on target

A pre-season facial fracture kept Walsh out in Round 1 but since making his club debut the following week, he has been in an individual purple patch rivalled in the NRL only by Manly superstar Tom Trbojevic.

Walsh tore up the Cowboys and dazzled the Dragons but this effort against the Dolphins was his classiest all-round performance.

He set up Brisbane’s first and second tries, denying one in between when he bundled Tesi Niu into touch with the cornerpost beckoning with a bullocking tackle. 

Fox League analyst Cooper Cronk was gushing with praise for the former Warrior after his second-half effort to give Cobbo a saloon passage down the sideline to score.

“It’s just silky combination from the Brisbane right edge. The mismatch of speed of Reece Walsh up against Sean O’Sullivan. Hit the accelerator, got to the outside shoulder, got Euan Aitken involved. He has made a big off-season move to the Brisbane Broncos and he has lit up the Broncos’ attack in the three games he’s played,” Cronk said.

Walsh’s class has the potential to lift the Broncos from finals contenders to being in the hunt for the title, particularly with the likes of Payne Haas and Patrick Carrigan dominating the forward exchanges and Adam Reynolds handling the primary organising duties.

“It was a tough win but we didn’t play very well so we’re disappointed with that,” Walters said. “We got there just in the nick of time with Kotoni with that long-distance try because anything could have happened.

“We copped a fair bit of punishment which we deserved at the back end of last year and we’ve all learnt from it.”

3. The Dolphins lose no admirers

They won their first three matches but in some ways, this was when the Dolphins came of age. 

Bennett’s side lost no admirers even though they tasted defeat for the first time – predicted to be easybeats in the pre-season, they’ve proved they will not only be competitive but will be hard to beat more often than not in their inaugural season.

“That was a monumental effort,” former Kangaroos halfback Greg Alexander said on Fox League.

O’Sullivan (pectoral), Nikorima (head knock) and Niu (leg injury) were among the Dolphins’ walking wounded with the latter soldiering on for most of the match despite being in clear discomfort. O’Sullivan was replaced midway through the second half while Nikorima only lasted three minutes before he went off bleeding badly.

“You need those key players in those key positions. They weren’t there. We were so brave to keep ourselves in the game. It was a miracle,” Bennett said.

“We could have played a little bit better at times. I couldn’t be disappointed with what they did, what they gave.”

Maroons forward Tom Gilbert was on a one-man mission – he ruffled up Reynolds after a rare poor pass sailed over the sideline, needed treatment for a head gash and was Bradley Clyde-like in his ability to swarm the Broncos in defence but also get back for the start of sets to do the hard yards.

It was no surprise that he chased Staggs valiantly for 100m to ensure he scored the final try away from the posts which meant when Reynolds missed the conversion that the Dolphins had one last chance to draw level in the dying seconds.

His only drama in a fine performance came late in the first half when he caught Cobbo high in a tackle which could draw match review committee’s ire.

Euan Aitken also showed his class in defence – he was isolated at centre against the much quicker Walsh several times but he showed great determination to drag down the quick-stepping fullback to ensure half breaks didn’t turn into points. 

Tabuai-Fidow is thriving after a frustrating season last year at the Cowboys where injuries and middling form led to him being shuffled from the bench to centre and wing but rarely to his preferred spot at fullback. 

The Hammer leads the NRL with five tries after four rounds and there will be plenty more based on his early-season efforts.

Melbourne 24, Wests Tigers 12

Even by the low expectations of Wests Tigers fans, this was an underwhelming performance by their beleaguered team. 

The NRL’s only winless team remains so after four rounds after the Storm cruised to a 24-12 victory at AAMI Park on Thursday night.

By the high expectations of Melbourne fans, this was also an underwhelming performance but they did enough to sink the wooden spooners to improve to a 2-2 record.

The Storm were feeling the absence of top-line talent like suspended half Jahrome Hughes and injured trio Ryan Papenhuyzen, Nelson Asofa-Solomona and Tepai Moeroa while the Tigers had no such excuses.

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4. Pezet dispenser for attacking raids

Melbourne have unearthed another rising star with young playmaker Jonah Pezet, who excelled in the halves alongside Cameron Munster in just his second NRL game. 

Jonah Pezet is tackled. (Photo by Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)

The 20-year-old half set up the first try of the match with a clever flick while being tackled, which enabled Eliesa Katoa to send winger Will Warbrick over for his first NRL try. 

Pezet was again the provider for Katoa when he took the ball into the defensive line and freed his arms to send his second-rower into open space again and this time fullback Nick Meaney was the benefactor. 

English import John Bateman took it upon himself to cut the gap to six when he palmed off three defenders and drew in a fourth for centre Asu Kepaoa to score.

Brooks threw the momentum away when he kicked too long for a seven-tackle set and a Cameron Munster high kick at the end of it ricocheted back for a Justin Olam four-pointer.

Pezet kicked through a few times to nearly score but forced a line drop-out just before half-time and Munster barged over on the next set for a 22-6 lead at break. 

A touchdown by Api Koroisau when Meaney made the fullback’s error of hoping a grubber would go dead was the only try of the second half.

Pezet, whose dad Troy played for the Crushers and Eels in the late 1990s, will get another chance in the top grade next Friday on the road against Souths with Hughes to serve another match for his dangerous contact ban after losing his roll of the dice at the judiciary during the week. 

“We made it really hard on ourselves,” Storm coach Craig Bellamy said. “I thought our effort was a whole heap better than the last couple of weeks.

“We’ve still got some things to work on. We were pretty disjointed in the second half with our attack.”

5. Basic errors sum up Tigers’ night

There’s not enough space to list all the dopey errors but here’s a few lowlights. 

Their defence was literally getting in each other’s way with Brooks tripped up by Isaiah Papali’i as he tackled his opposing second-rower Elisea Katoa in the lead-up to the Meaney try. 

Brooks’ confidence is shot – as listed above, he booted the ball dead to gift the Storm what turned out to be a crucial extra play for the Olam try, he threw a bullet pass into a decoy runner instead of an unmarked winger to bomb a certain early try, knocked on the ball cold at one stage in the second half and as is often the case, looked like he was second-guessing himself throughout the match.

It wasn’t totally his fault but the Tigers surrendered possession after one of his scrum feeds with Melbourne’s nominal hooker, Bronson Garlick, raking it back while his opposing front-row counterpart in Bateman seemed distracted by Tui Kamikamica. 

“That was a great little play,” Storm skipper Christian Welch said.

Bateman also copped a comical falcon in the second half when a pass infield from a kick for touch bounced into his head as he waited for the tap to take place. 

They didn’t surrender at any stage and tried hard throughout the contest but the Tigers’ comedy of errors will not please long-suffering fans who thought the influx of Bateman, Koroisau, Papali’i and David Klemmer could turn the team’s fortunes around.

“We lost the game probably in the last 10 minutes of the first half when it skipped away from us. I asked them to win the second half and they did and that gave us a chance to win the game. Every option we took seemed to be the wrong option,” coach Tim Sheens said. “We had a number of chances to get back into the game.

“The effort was there but our execution was very ordinary in many ways. It’s not through a lack of trying, otherwise Melbourne would have put 50 on us.

“We’ve got some work to do there, we admit that as coaches.”

Sheens said it would take the new-look Wests line-up a bit of time to fire on all cylinders “but I can’t use that as an excuse when the Dolphins have won their first three”.

He added that Bateman played the second half with an injury issue. Sheens didn’t want to reveal the nature of Bateman’s problem but said he would need scans to be cleared to play next Saturday against the Broncos in Brisbane.

6. Coaches ‘never’ tell players to stay down but it happens

Players used to get a magic spray from the trainer to make them snap back into life after a heavy hit.

The referee’s whistle now has the same effect.

On a couple of occasions, players from each side copped a high shot and were rendered unable to get up from the turf to complete a play-the-ball.

But whether they received a tip-off from a touch judge or the bunker, referee Ben Cummins blew his whistle for a penalty and the fallen player sprung back to their feet. 

Coaches are adamant they never tell players to stay down. Some of them get extremely fired up if anyone dare suggest otherwise.

But some of the instances that occurred at AAMI Park couldn’t have been any more glaring.

In the age of being forced off by the bunker for 15-minute HIA breaks, players are treading a fine line if they stay down acting hurt – if they’re too convincing they’ll be hauled off.