Roar Guru
The Brisbane Broncos are on top of the NRL world, kicking off their season 5-0 to sit alone at first in the standings.
They haven’t played this well since their last premiership way back in 2006.
The Broncos have the hardest draw in the league, however they’ve defied expectations.
Taking on Penrith at BlueBet Stadium first up is as hard as it gets. That clash is a representation of how good their season has been. They were able to hold out the premiers on their line for most of the second half and conceded just 12 points all match.
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Brisbane’s defence has remained a brick wall since and their attack is arguably the best in the competition.
They are leading the league in points, line breaks, meters gained, post-contact meters, as well as scoring more tries than any other team.
When you pair this with outstanding defence, you win premierships.
Many like to argue whether it’s attack or defence which secures premierships. You need to be around the best at both areas, champions can’t be made if a side is one of the best in only one of these areas.
This Broncos team is almost a perfect comparison to the 2015-16 side that went oh so close to premiership glory.
The only thing that could be different is that these current guys are even better. Ezra Mam is the old Anthony Milford and Reece Walsh is a developing Darius Boyd.
In Brisbane’s season before and after the 2015 Grand Final loss they known as entertainers and that’s exactly what they are at the moment. They’re dangerous every time they have the ball in hand and their attacking raids in the opposition’s red zone often end in a repeat set if they don’t get across the stripe.
The Broncos’ glory days occurred in the 1990s and 2000s when they won six premierships in 15 seasons will be hard to ever repeat.
They still have a long way to go just to get to this year’s Grand Final, let alone break their title drought, however it’s hard to find a team that has displayed their consistent excellence this year.
Brisbane go from grinding out wins over Penrith and the Dolphins, to scoring four tries in 10 minutes against St George Illawarra and brutally embarrassing the Tigers last weekend.
The big question regarding their chances of breaking their 17-year drought is whether they have the DNA of a premiership-winning side.
Such claims have been made many times previously in the past decade which have not aged well.
Origin time is huge for this team – they will have several players in the Maroons squad as well as Payne Haas lining up for the Blues.
If they have their team intact come finals team and can replicate their recent red-hot form at the end of the season, the Broncos have the horsepower to finally adding a new piece of silverware to their dusty trophy cabinet.