ANALYSIS: Haas dominates as Broncos bounce back with big win, but Manly's attack has disappeared

Another year, another battering. Brisbane bounced back from last week’s disappointing defeat to hand Manly a second consecutive Magic Round thrashing, winning out 32-6 in front of a raucous Friday night crowd.

This fixture is a staple at the showpiece event and in all four runnings, it has been a wide scoreline. This was closer than last year’s 38-0, or the year before, which Manly won 50-6, but it was no less of a bash up.

Selwyn Cobbo got a hat trick for the second year running, but the night belonged to Payne Haas, who marked his return from a week’s suspension with his best performance of an already-brilliant year. Kevin Walters gave his man an early mark after an hour – played straight through – and he still topped the metre count.

It was heartening stuff for Walters, who had been ill in the week and only decided to attend the game late in the afternoon. He will have bene glad that he did, such was the performance from his men.

“Six points against us is the most pleasing thing for us,” he said.

“The opposition gave us a few opportunities and we converted those this week more so than last week. That was important for us.

“Each week we’re learning and we want to get better. To do that, you’ve got to put a good week of training in and then perform tonight.”

As for Manly, this was another Magic Round to forget. Last week’s defeat at home to the Gold Coast was bad, and they backed that up with an even worse showing. They never recovered from an error-strewn first half and despite putting on some decent attack, barely made a dent in the scoreboard.

Anthony Seibold had a solid start to his Brookvale career, but the slide is well and truly on and the criticism will only grow until his side show something better. This was not a happy return to Brisbane for the ex-Broncos coach.

“It’s disappointing because we thought we’d come up here and give a good account of ourselves and challenge the team at the top of the table,” said the Manly coach.

“When you’re making 15 errors, it’s not a defensive thing, You’re putting pressure on yourself. It’s a cycle. We have to keep working and keep building on the platform that we’ve made earlier in the season. It’s been a bad two weeks but we move on.”

The Broncos were far too good

Brisbane were brought back to earth with a bump by South Sydney last week, but it seems to have done them no harm at all. This was their best showing of the year.

It helps that Haas was back, with the prop forward in particular playing like he had taken it as a personal insult that he was ruled out the week before.

The Broncos are far from a one man team, but it’s pretty clear that when their best player is on deck, they can challenge with the best of them. 

Haas was on a different plane to the Manly pack, taking several with him on most runs and worrying anyone who ran even close to him in defence. 

The effect on everyone else is astounding. Pat Carrigan is great most weeks, but is even better as the second part of the one-two punch with his pack leader. 

Kotoni Staggs and Herbie Farnworth get the good ball they crave because those two win rucks and bend the line. Reece Walsh gets all the time in the world, and looks a million bucks as a result. It’s a simple game, rugby league.

Last week’s other absentee, Ezra Mam, was a little more subdued. The five eighth got little good ball and was given a working over by Haumole Olakau’atu in defence. 

Should Reynolds’ injury turn out to be anything serious, the pressure will come on Mam to be better, but tonight, he wasn’t required to do much.

Manly’s attack has disappeared

In game one of Magic Round, nobody could defend. In game two, nobody could catch. Five errors came in the first eight minute from both sides.

Manly were trying to play expansively – both Reuben Garrick and Jason Saab got free in the opening stages – but it wasn’t close to working. 

A short kick-off went wrong, then a bomb was dropped, then a simple marker tackle missed for Billy Walters to score. Five errors in 13 minutes begat two tries and that was, pretty much, the game.

Completion rates are close to the most overrated stat in rugby league, but if you go around at 50%, as Manly did in the first half, you will win precisely zero games. 

Seibold’s Manly have so far been defined by jarring shots and coast-to-coast footy on their good days and errors and poor edge defence on their bad days. This was a shocking day, and they picked just about the worst moment to do it. 

Plenty has been written about how much they miss Tom Trbojevic when he’s out injured, but on the evidence of tonight, they miss brother Jake just as much. 

Haas dominated Manly’s middle, racking up 131m in the first half alone. Having the best tackler in the NRL up against him certainly would have helped.

On the other side of the ball, Josh Aloiai was asked to take on the ball-playing role that Jake performs, and while he wasn’t terrible, it’s certainly not the best use of his talents. Four errors tells it all.

Manly actually matched Brisbane for line breaks, but were nowhere near in the finishing stakes. Only a solitary Ben Trbojevic try – off a Tom assist – was their reward.

Tom created two more line breaks through presence alone, but was marshalled well by the kicking of Brisbane, which gave him nothing to work with. Every time he looked up, Jordan Riki was there. For all the chat that he is playing hurt, he still looks by far the most threatening player in maroon and white.

Daly Cherry-Evans, as ever, went deep into the bag but nothing came off. At one point, he pulled off a 60m kick that stopped a yard from the dead ball line, before halting Selwyn Cobbo in the in-goal. 

The difference between Manly and Brisbane is that you know where the Sea Eagles threat is going to come from. Turbo and DCE offer plenty, but Cooper Johns is wholly unthreatening and Lachlan Croker favours efficiency over flashiness. 

Consequently, it’s far too easy to mark to take the attack out of the game. Multiple times on the last, Manly were rudderless. 

For a side that is actually good at creating line breaks, they are really bad at scoring. It was one last week – a Sean Keppie crossover – and since their tryathon draw with Newcastle, Manly have managed eight in five games. 

Individually, there were good things out there for the Sea Eagles, but collectively, it was a total failure. For the second week running, it is flush and forget time. The bad news is that next week, the rampant Sharks come to town, and the week after, it’s a trip to a resurgent Canberra.

Tom Flegler is a pack leader in waiting

Beyond Haas and Carrigan, Tom Flegler is about the best third-choice middle going. He’s rugby league’s equivalent to having Pat Cummins at first change, and will walk into the Dolphins next year and become the pack leader.

There’s always been a player in there, but often it came with too much of the other rubbish – notably, the myriad suspensions. Now, it’s just controlled aggression and impactful carries.

He’s the standout, but there’s plenty more. Riki is blossoming into the player many thought he would become, and not just with the flashy stuff that caught the eye when he first game into grade. His willingness to do the dirty work, most notably on kick chases, is what stands out.

Billy Walters is another who has also been heavily criticised – another rugby league nepo baby – but is more than pulling his weight in this Broncos team. He’s undoubtedly their best 9 on form and deserves his spot.

The collective effort from Brisbane is what is driving this team forward. It builds belief that this team can last until late in the year.