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They’ve done it again. After producing one of the most dramatic games of the year in Round 4, the Brisbane derby has again lived up to expectations with a chaotic, frenetic clash ending 20-16 to the Broncos in front of a sold out crowd at The Gabba.
Selwyn Cobbo won it late for his side with a superb solo try, chipping over the defence before putting on the turbojets to regather the ball and score. He had opened the scoring and would end it too, finishing with a well-deserved hat trick.
“He had a terrific game all night,” siad Kevin Walters. “He was dangerous there. We know what Selwyn brings to our footy team. We haven’t seen a lot of it this year – still, his hip is giving him some grief – but it’s the freest he’s run tonight on the field. He’s a good player and we’re happy he’s on our side.”
It so nearly was a totally different story. The Dolphins had fought back from 14-6 behind to lead with a stirring period of pressure that exhausted the Broncos middles.
Having started poorly and gifted Brisbane a ten point lead, they could have crumbled. Wayne Bennett teams rarely do that, however.
This was eerily similar to their first meeting back in the late summer. Then, the Broncos lead by two tries, then trailed, then won with two late tries. It was deja vu for the Dolphins.
They have been on a rotten run of late, but as any sports fan knows, form goes out the window on derby day. they proved that with a performance of pure heart and application, especially in the second half.
Wayne Bennett will wonder what might have happened had his side kept their discipline a little better the first half, or if he had been able to call upon Felise Kaufusi, who left early with a HIA.
Some good, some bad. It was pretty gutsy to stay in the game given how we’ve played in the last couple of weeks, so the effort was positive.
“There’s plenty going against us,” said Bennett. “But you make your own luck and we’re not making much of it. I wish he (Kaufusi) could have played the full game but he couldn’t and that’s football.”
Walters will likely be happy to have got away with the win. His side were missing Reece Walsh to suspension and both Jordan Riki and Tom Flegler to foot injuries, and having been behind with 15 to play, it looked terrible for his side. In this context, this win will mean plenty.
“It was much improved,” he said. “We’ve still got a way to go but it’s important that we got back to some of our principles tonight – and got the win to get our season back on track.
“We played some good footy at times, and also some not-so-good. It’s important to get the win.”
Derbies are often about the middles, but tonight was all about the centres.
On the left, Herbie Farnworth was the star, causing no end of problems for Valynce Te Whare with his direct running and rangy strength.
It’s that strength that creates all the openings, the aspect that defenders find so hard to deal with. Farnworth is huge, in both height and weight, but he’s also lean, with relatively low body fat for most players of his dimensions.
All that means that he can apply greater directional force – off both feet, and with upper body contact points – while also maintaining speed.
Compare to a similar weight, but differently proportioned centre, someone like Siosifa Talakai or, indeed, tonight’s opponent, Te Whare. They have the size and power to cope, but not the agility.
Farnworth isn’t the only centre to have this quality – as Izack Tago proved on Friday night – but he’s right up there with the best of them. It’s why he’s joint second in the NRL for tackle breaks.
Te Whare did show his worth with a bustling try that displayed his skillset, all power with a low centre of gravity. His defence is a long way away yet, but there’s no denying that few can do what he does with the ball.
On the other side, Kotoni Staggs had a real struggle. Faced with Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, he knew he was toast if his opposite number got any sort of run on him, and defended skittishly throughout.
Staggs was lucky early on when he was burned by the Hammer, only for an obstruction further back down the line to take the try away.
For the Dolphins’ first, the Broncos centre was fixated on his man, which allowed Kodi Nikorima to slide in behind him.
Tabuai-Fidow is probably best as a fullback, but he’s proved in the Origin arena that he’s plenty good enough in the centres too, and whenever he touched the ball, the Broncos looked terrified.
Staggs did get his positive note late on with a pass that got Cobbo in for his hat trick, but of the four, he was the weakest.
It takes years to build a rivalry. The Broncos have played the Titans for 15 years and it still doesn’t really feel like one. They’re neighbours, but does anyone seriously think they compete?
Yet this one is just two games old and already feels like it matters. It can be boiled down to the age old question: Mickey Mouse or fair dinkum?
After 160 minutes of action, you can answer that already. It’s fair dinkum, bloody oath it is.
There’s reasons for this. The Dolphins, dumb as the name is, weren’t picked from nowhere.
They were picked from Redcliffe and had a legion of diehard fans who had been around long before the Broncos – many of who didn’t ever switch allegiances – and can immediately claim legacy support in the city.
On the field, it’s taken two games, two classics, two packed houses and two close finishes. Every meeting from now on is appointment viewing.
Some teams hate each other, like the Roosters and Souths. Some have ideological differences, like Manly and Wests did once upon a time. Some just share the same patch of Earth, like Penrith and Parramatta do.
It’s hard to say which of those this derby is, or what we’re even meant to call it. But it’s undeniable that it is a proper derby, once that makes the competition better.
On the Fox League coverage, they signed off by saying that this fixture never, ever disappoints. There’s only been two of them, but you knew what they meant.