The Broncos blew the Eels away in Darwin on Saturday night but it was the way in which they did it that will have Brisbane fans salivating and Parramatta supporters foaming at the mouth.
A couple of tries to Parra in the second half made the final margin look closer than this match was with Brisbane holding a 20-point lead before closing out the 26-16 victory.
Every year there’s a team that bursts out of the blocks, has a mid-season lull and either doesn’t make the finals or makes up the numbers.
There is no way Brisbane will be that side in 2023.
They are deserved competition leaders with a 7-1 record which includes some big notches on their belt – the premiers in Round 1 at Penrith, a comprehensive victory over North Queensland and this Darwin win over last year’s runners-up.
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After making their first Grand Final since 2009 last October, the Eels look highly unlikely to be in the premiership decider again unless they can quickly rediscover their mojo and their task will be made harder with Reagan Campbell-Gillard likely to miss at least a few weeks after injuring his groin in a possible hip-drop tackle from opposing prop Payne Haas which left Eels coach Brad Arthur hot under the collar.
Haas, and teammate Ezra Mam facing a one-game ban each from the the game while Eels J’maine Hopgood has only been fined, the judiciary reported on Saturday.
Tom Flegler is tackled. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
Are Broncos the real deal?
Why not the Broncos? It’s an open race for the title this year – Penrith are not as dominant as they’ve been the past couple of seasons, South Sydney have been inconsistent, as have the Roosters, Sharks and Storm.
Brisbane by no means should be considered favourites for the title as the Panthers remain the competition benchmark even though they dropped to a 4-3 record on Thursday night when the Rabbitohs snatched victory in the dying stages.
But the Broncos deserve to be in the conversation for teams who could get their hands on the trophy. It’s not necessarily just going to be a rapid rise up the ladder like the Cowboys and Sharks did last season.
Brisbane should be able to build on their early-season momentum to at least secure a top-four berth and with a heaving Suncorp Stadium spurring them on, they could go deep into the playoffs.
They’ve got all the ingredients of a premiership-winning team – a powerful pack led by Haas and Patrick Carrigan, who were typically impactful through the middle against Parra, an elite playmaker calling the shots in Adam Reynolds, X-factor at the back in the form of Reece Walsh and plenty of pointscoring potency from Kotoni Staggs, Herbie Farnworth and Selwyn Cobbo.
It’s been eight seasons since Brisbane made a Grand Final and 17 since their sixth premiership. Trophies are expected at the Broncos, not hoped for.
Kevin Walters played his career in the club’s golden era side which carried the expectation of greatness with aplomb. As coach, he’s repeatedly said it’s up to this generation of players to create their own history. They could be on the verge of doing just that.
“I thought our first 40 was really good,” Walters said. “We expected a tough game and we got one.
“I’m not sure if we made a (premiership) statement. We’ve got a lot of respect for Parramatta as grand finalists. At the moment it’s about winning the games and identifying where we need to get better, which we’ve been doing.
“Our start was good tonight but our finish was not where it needs to be.”
Arthur fumes over more hip-drop drama
Reagan Campbell-Gillard is set to spend time on the sidelines after his groin was stretched further than any prop would like in a tackle from Haas, which forced him off in the 64th minute.
His coach, Brad Arthur, thought the tackle was as bad as similar incidents involving J’maine Hopgood and Ezra Mam which led to both players spending 10 minutes in the sin bin.
“I don’t think it’s great, his groin, he’s in a lot of pain,” Arthur said. “I think it’ll be more than a couple of weeks. He can hardly walk.”
“I’m not an expert on hip-drops but to me, all three of them looked pretty similar.”
Hopgood was sin-binned for a hip-drop tackle which did not appear intentional or malicious early in the second half.
Soon after he returned, Mam was banished for the same reason for a tackle which looked much worse and will be more likely to attract the attention of the match review committee.
Haas, like most of the hip-drops that have become the judiciary flavour of the month in 2023, did not appear to intentionally try to harm RCG but the veteran Eel ended in a painful position as the Broncos forward’s body weight brought him to ground.
“I didn’t see anything too dramatic with it but I’m a coach,” he said. “It’s a tackle that’s crept into the game and no coach in the game is coaching players to go out and do that, we’ve got too much respect for each other. Sometimes it comes into the game and it’s unfortunate if there are some but we will let the officials adjudicate.”
Does Reynolds have an ideal halves partner? Yes, Mam
Ezra Mam heated up the match in the tropics with a couple of back-to-back moments of brilliance midway through the first half.
After Herbie Farnworth and Clint Gutherson traded tries for a 6-6 deadlock, the Broncos shot in front when Adam Reynolds shaped to kick and passed inside to Mam and the young five-eight displayed blinding acceleration off the mark to split the Eels up the middle.
When confronted by Gutherson close to the line, he flicked the ball back inside for a grateful Reynolds to scoot over.
A few minutes later, a Reece Walsh kick looked to be bouncing away for a line drop-out as Gutherson prayed for the right bounce but the ball was reefed back by Kotoni Staggs along the dead-ball line for Mam to pounce.
There were several Eels players who stood and watched Gutherson’s nightmare at the back unfold while just as many Broncos players chased through, with Mam rewarded for their collective persistence. It was a telling play in the course of the match.
Not only did it open up an 18-6 lead, it showed the intent of Brisbane and the lack of it from Parramatta.
That stark difference was again on show when a Reynolds chip kick to the corner bounced at a right angle and Staggs was more enthusiastic than his opposing outside backs to make it 22-6 at the break.
“The second half was alright,” Eels coach Brad Arthur said. “We’re fighting hard as a team but we’re leaving too much to do in second halves. Our start wasn’t good enough, they just rolled straight through the middle. They got into good field position to have easy kicks with no pressure.
“We’ve got to harden up at the start of games.
“We’re trying to play too cute, too pretty at the start of games.”
Eels look cooked
Parra didn’t go troppo in the Top End, quite the opposite. They looked listless and lacking in energy throughout much of this contest before a brief revival in the second half which kept the Broncos on their toes.
At 3-5 after eight rounds, they are not necessarily in danger of missing the playoffs and it’s too premature to officially put a red line through their chances of breaking the NRL’s longest premiership drought.
But there is cause for great concern in the blue and gold fold.
The Eels still have the nucleus of their Grand Final team despite a few high-profile forwards exiting in the off-season but they just don’t seem to have enough strikepower to be consistently dominant.
Reed Mahoney’s absence at hooker is glaring. His defection to the Bulldogs is the off-season departure that has been felt the most.
Josh Hodgson remains a solid performer but he’s not the player that he was in his prime at the Raiders. That’s the hooker that Parra need but at 33 and on the back of a couple of major surgeries, he lacks the spark that could make the Eels electric.
They are mired in 12th spot on the ladder and will need a major mid-season transformation to string together enough wins to claw their way to an all-important top four spot which is pretty much a necessity if you want to win an NRL title.
Eels winger Bailey Simonsson was concussed after a nasty head clash with Cobbo early in the second half and is unlikely to be cleared to play next Friday in the match-up with Newcastle at CommBank Stadium.
Maxtruck
Roar Rookie
As will never winning a premiership despite giving all he had for the Eels, AKA Hindmarsh
Fraser
Roar Rookie
Really? He was already sprawled mate
Andrew01
Roar Rookie
Haas's weight is what caused RCG's legs to split, not his momentum.
Tetley
Roar Rookie
I'm wondering, did Nathan Cleary's cover tackle on Alex Johnston qualify as a hip drop? It got called out as a brilliant piece of play but he mowed him down from behind by grabbing onto his hips and letting his body weight bring Johnston down.
Tetley
Roar Rookie
Haha quite right. Even so...
Ben Pobjie
Expert
Souths does.
Tetley
Roar Rookie
Gah, hip drops! The Broncos are about to lose two of their key players for a flagship game against Souths, which is definitely going to cruel their chances of winning. No one wants that.
3 R M
Roar Rookie
They all copped dangerous contact charges TB not a hip drop mentioned. so the good old you've hurt someone with a tackle that we can not pigeon hole so we will give you the naughty contact charge. Fight that if you know what it is..
Tetley
Roar Rookie
I agree with you. These tackles have been around for yonks. They’ve just been identified as a “thing” – or attempted to be identified (as per this game clearly no one knows what the “thing” is). For mine there’s a need to accept some sort of risk in playing sport. There’s too many ways someone (either attacker or defender) can get injured in a tackle, whether that’s a tackle around the ankles, legs, knees, thighs, hips, gut, chest or shoulders. You make a “thing” out of one of them and there’s a case for making a “thing” out of other sorts of tackles. You may reach a point where tackling rules become too complex (God help us if that ever happens we don’t resort to the simple solution of banning it entirely).
Chris Love
Roar Guru
So Haas and Max with grade two’s. I guess there’s no such thing as a grade 3 because Mam’s was a s text book as you can get 1on1.
Simoc
Roar Rookie
Thanks for the Link, The Barry. I'm much better informed now. It makes good sense.
The Barry
Roar Guru
All three were charged, so it’s right, right, wrong :stoked: No one rubbed out yet I’ve think the NRL is ignoring its own rules
The Barry
Roar Guru
So far I think they have been consistent with the charges . Is there someone who has been suspended when they shouldn’t or vice versa? . Niukore is the only one for me that springs to mind . Haas and the Broncs have a ready made defence with Annesley’s video . As Fraser said earlier I think the NRL has crumbled on this one…
Megeng
Roar Rookie
In totally confused by this hip drop business. I watch the videos from last night and they just look like tackles I’ve seen all my life Can someone write a good article on it please? If they keep refining the rules about how you can and can’t tackle, they’ll end up like rugby union. Even though I played the game, in ruck and scrum infringements today, I’m at a complete loss.
Fraser
Roar Rookie
Was pretty annoyed with the second penalty goal. Should have gone for the punish with a player down. It was pouring at that stage though, so maybe the right decision at the time. Broncos still struggle to score when given multiple sets on the try line. They are much better from outside the 20.
Cam
Roar Rookie
Geez just read Reg has a possible hip fracture from the Haas tackle, which would be his season done. I'd speculate the hip will be the bane of his existence from age 40 until he drops off the perch.
Fraser
Roar Rookie
You're right. Judiciary report suggests it was ruled an accidental head clash. Interestingly they also said: “You should not find a player guilty because of the outcome, a laceration to player Crichton’s ear. You should look at the tackle for what it is.”
Nat
Roar Guru
Smoking bananas might just be a westie thing champ. I didn't know you could but it would explain some of your replies. Yes I disagreed with your hyperbolic "He could have easily kept on his feet to complete the tackle. Saying it’s not a hip drop tackle based on this parameter or that , just sounds like an excuse. It fitted the mould of a hip drop tackle. It was an extremely dangerous, reckless tackle , that caused an injury to an opponent." because you disagree with the ref and video ref and their interpretation who have just adjudicated 2x on that specific tackle. You make a comment I disagree with, I will challenge you on that subject not the club you support. Like I said, last time we engaged it was about Souths v Manly & Penrith v Knights. No mention of anything Qld and you are the one who brought the Broncos into it. I have had many different profile pics. You would know that if you've been on here longer than 2 minutes. Go smoke some more bananas buddy.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
You need to re visit the judiciary report of that incident again. Launching a shoulder was never a factor.
Panthers
Roar Rookie
You only ever jump in & say , ‘absolute garbage’ & the like. When it’s a comment that’s you consider to be a negative one , towards a Queensland team , player, or someone playing for a Queensland team. It’s as obvious as the Artie Beetson picture , you see yourself in. Don’t want Nat to jump in & defend anything Queensland . Don’t dare say anything that could be considered, to be having a go at anyone playing in a Queensland side , or a Queensland team itself. You’re the one smoking too many banana’s . My initial comment was made , as that tackle was a dangerous one & he injured the player. Simple as that. Don’t like it? Tough Luck!