Brisbane have kept the pressure on Penrith for the Minor Premiership with a pulsating 30-14 victory over North Queensland, taking the Queensland bragging rights for the season in the process.
It was scintillating attacking showing from the Broncos, who managed four tries but could have had twice as many were it not for some superb Cowboys tackling.
Tries from Jesse Arthars, Ezra Mam, Reece Walsh, Selwyn Cobbo and Pat Carrigan – his second in as many weeks after not scoring for 76 games – were enough to repeatedly stave off North Queensland comebacks.
If this is a preview of the standard of the finals, then we’re in for a treat.
The Cowboys were good enough for a Prelim last year and have, after a shaky start, been very good this year too. The Broncos have frontrunners from the start of 2023.
Both are in good form, both have something to play for and both are in the top tier of NRL sides. Throw in a local rivalry and a Saturday afternoon kick off and it was all on from minute one.
Kotoni Staggs produced a trysaver to deny Kyle Feldt a try on first grade return, with the Broncos going straight up the other end to open the scoring.
Even without injured talisman Adam Reynolds, Brisbane were able to rack up enough points to stay ahead, though they were continually pegged back and only sealed the result late on.
Given the loss of their captain before the game and Jesse Arthars to a head knock and Herbie Farnworth to cork during it, this will go down as a famous win.
The Broncos draw back level with the Panthers as a result, while North Queensland must now wait nervously on results elsewhere to stay in the top eight ahead of their bye next weekend.
“The Cowboys are a team that can score points and very quickly,” said Kevin Walters.
“We managed to keep them to three tries which is probably one more than we’d like but we’re not greedy at the Broncos.
“Today was a classic example of how we can get better.”
His counterpart Todd Payten was more effusive about the Broncos’ tackling.
“They didn’t give us a lot of opportunities, we didn’t get a shot on their try line until the 20-minute mark,” he said.
“That’s the discipline of a good team and they sit where they sit because they’ve been able to do it consistently well.”
The Broncos made their biggest strides last year in defence, but were ultimately undone by their deficiencies in attack.
This time around, it’s with the ball that they have skyrocketed, with Reece Walsh’s brilliance plus an extra year into Staggs, Farnworth, Selwyn Cobbo and Ezra Mam giving Brisbane one of the best strike backlines around.
It would be reductive to say that today was a case of attack v defence, but this was certainly one of the best attacks against one of the best defences.
Attack won. Brisbane outscored North Queensland by five tries to three, but the line break gap was even wider at 10-5, showing how many were left out there.
The pure pace of Walsh and the emergence of Farnworth as one of the best centres in the game has supercharged the Broncos with the ball, with even the best defensive lines unable to cope.
Brisbane bombed multiple tries in the first half and might still have had more were it not for excellent goalline defence.
They say that defence wins championships, but in 2023, that might not be the case. The Panthers are the team to beat because their defence is so good, but the biggest challenges they have faced have been from Souths and Parramatta, two of the most outright attacking outfits around.
Ultimately, someone is going to have to outscore Penrith, and that will start from an ability to challenge them with the ball and then defend those points.
The Broncos’ defence is good enough now to keep them in games – and they might well have the attack to go with it that can challenge the best.
The Cowboys now are like the Broncos last year, with their focus first on shutting up shop and then trying to nick points where they can. When that goes wrong, then the whole game tends to go with it.
The problem is that they haven’t really improved in that aspect on 2022. Today was another example of their top-end deficiencies with the ball, because they had equal opportunity to score with the Broncos but fell well behind.
For line breaks, they’re right in the middle of the pack – and that’s after a few games where they have really racked up the score against poor teams. Given where they are in other metrics – notably run metres – it goes a long way to explaining why they come off second best against the very best.
The problem is slightly about personnel, but also structural. Chad Townsend is good at a lot of things but he’s nowhere near an elite halfback, which naturally limits the team creatively.
Kick and control is plenty good enough to beat most teams, but it won’t win you a comp, and that’s the standard North Queensland are aiming for.
On the collective level, the Cowboys remain one of the few teams still attacking without a ball-playing forward – and it tells.
They ran Reuben Cotter in the 13 jumper today and have had Jason Taumalolo there at other times, and for all their strengths, neither are creative options.
Payten’s system is good enough that it can shut out most teams and do well when Tom Dearden or Scott Drinkwater produce magic. But that won’t happen against the top sides, and it didn’t happen today.
The Cowboys had a huge amount of good ball but, too often, were snuffed out by simple umbrella defence. Only late, when Brisbane had men out of position, did Drinkwater’s sweep move finally stick.
It was the predictability in attack that ended North Queensland’s year in 2022. It’s what lead to their defeat last week on the Gold Coast, and again today.
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