Broncos
17
Match Complete
Eels
16
| J. Isaako |  | 81 | ||
| 77 |  | M. Moses | ||
| 76 |  | K. Evans | ||
| 66 | | B. Ferguson | ||
| J. Isaako | | 43 | ||
| D. Boyd | | 42 | ||
| J. Isaako |  | 39 | ||
| J. Isaako | | 30 | ||
| D. Fifita | | 29 | ||
| 23 | | M. Sivo | ||
| 18 | | M. Moses | ||
| J. Isaako | | 6 |
| 2 | Tries | 3 | ||
| 2 | Conversions | 1 | ||
| 2 | Penalty Goals | 1 | ||
| 1 | Field Goals | 0 |
Match result:
The Brisbane Broncos have come out one-point winners in a genuine thriller on Friday night, hosting the Parramatta Eels at Suncorp Stadium.
Final score
Broncos 17
Eels 16
Match preview:
The race to the NRL finals continues this Friday night as the Brisbane Broncos take on the Parramatta Eels at Suncorp Stadium. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog of the game, starting from 7:55pm AEST.
This match is critically important for both teams, with the Broncos needing the win to retain its spot in the top eight, and the Eels needing the win to ensure a home semi-final. Both sides are coming off last-start losses.
The Broncos will be ruing missed opportunities after their loss to the Rabbits last weekend. With South Sydney missing the Burgess brothers, the Broncos forwards dominated for long periods of the game, but couldn’t translate that dominance into enough points. The Souths spine combination of Cook, Reynolds and Walker had too much chance when it counted.
The onus is firmly on Darius Boyd and Anthony Milford to control the attack this week, which will be required to get the points over the Eels.
Anthony Siebold has named an unchanged line-up, with Turpin and Pangai Jnr still to return from suspension.
After a shock loss to the resurgent Bulldogs last week, the Eels now have a hard run home with games against the Broncos and Sea Eagles. If they lose both of those games and the Sharks win their final 2 games, the Eels will lose their home semi-finals. A lot of ifs, but the Eels will want to make it certain this weekend.
There is good news for the Eels this weekend, with Blake Ferguson named to make his return on the wing. This sees Brad Takairangi reverting to the bench. Marata Niukore comes in for the suspended Nathan Brown. Peni Terepo has been named on the bench in place of Tepai Moeroa.
Prediction
The Eels were flat against the Bulldogs last weekend but they will be surely up for this game. As we know, the Broncos season is close to being on the line. Both sides will be desperate.
The Broncos problems all year, and in past years for that matter, have surrounded the creativity of the halves. I don’t think that will change tonight and, with Mitchell Moses in career best form, I think the Eels will win.
Eels by 4.
When: 7:55pm AEST
Where: Suncorp Stadium
TV: Nine, Foxtel
Online: NRL App
Betting: Brisbane Broncos: $1.65; Parramatta Eels: $2.20
Brisbane Broncos
1. Anthony Milford 5. Jamayne Isaako 3. Kotoni Staggs 4. Alex Glenn 2. Corey Oates 6. Darius Boyd 7. Sean O’Sullivan 8. Matthew Lodge 9. Andrew McCullough 10. Payne Haas 11. David Fifita 12. Matt Gillett 13. Joe Ofahengaue
Interchange: 14. James Segeyaro 15. Thomas Flegler 16. Gehamat Shibasaki 17. Patrick Carrigan
Parramatta Eels
1. Clint Gutherson 2. Maika Sivo 3. Michael Jennings 4. Waqa Blake 5. Blake Ferguson 6. Dylan Brown 7. Mitchell Moses 8. Kane Evans 9. Reed Mahoney 10. Junior Paulo 11. Shaun Lane 12. Manu Ma’u 13. Marata Niukore
Interchange: 14. Peni Terepo 15. David Gower 16. Daniel Alvaro 17. Brad Takairangi
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
Yeah, I saw that shepherd, or 'escort'. Ref should have penalised Boyd.
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
Dogs robbed too. It was a QLD double
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
Change the coach too.
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
Fergo's 'offside' try was a really bad call. Boyd illegally blocked Gutho at the death, same thing as an 'escort' but they don't blow penalties in GP. Refereeing is conducted according to 'fads'.
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
My peeve too. If I was a ref I wouldn't call the defending team offside if they tackled the dummy half.
Big Daddy
Guest
You can only win with what is your strength. Obviously the young powerhouse forwards are doing the job but need to develop some halves .
steveng
Roar Rookie
I didnt say it was the refs fault, that last defensive set of 6 was the worst I've seen from a team that was trying to defend against a GP and wanted to be in the top 4! The Eels just gave up, first there was Segeyaro who they didnt tackle and then Fifita who walked right through them. Never mind, lets see how Fifita goes in the playoffs?
Emcie
Roar Guru
I apologise if that's how it comes across but let's be honest, your original post was hardly presented as in depth analysis. It came across as more of a pot shot at the broncs then anything else- "broncos won but only because this guy did everything himself". Come on mate, most of your contributions to the roar are far more meaty then what you reserve for Brisbane.
Censored Often
Roar Rookie
Like that knock on the touchie ignored in the first half?
Emcie
Roar Guru
He's got 3 this year. But yeah, I think it got to the point where teams would just rush him on fifth and he wasn't getting a chance so they mixed it up a bit and it turned out Isaako had a great boot.
Peter
Guest
BA, true. But since you only groused about calls against the Eels, what is one to think? We appear to be agreed that there were rubbish rulings in both directions.
The Barry
Roar Guru
Yeah right I didn’t realise It must be awhile since he’s kicked one because they’ve been giving them to Isaako for a couple of seasons and Kahu before that Milford got the FG yips pretty badly a few seasons ago
thomas c
Guest
Some minor refereeing I didn't like. Having multiple refs if fine, but when the main ref and the others see the same thing, it seems unhelpful to overrule. And if memory serves, one of eels tries had the tackled player walk several meters forwards after the tackle was held (it's a peeve of mine) prior to the burst over. The Eels weren't bad. Bit of a conservative game plan initially and after the first 15 minutes, I wasn't even sure if Moses was on the field. I just hadn't seen any of the usual attacking flare that draws my attention to him. Another epic performance from Haas and Fifita, and things were close enough to just needs someone from one side to step up. Haas is a workhorse. With Fifita, some part of me wonders if he can keep up biggish minutes and that level of game breaking impact. Logically, if the Broncos were firing, other forwards and attacking options might mean they didn't need to do so much.
Nat
Roar Guru
Well done boys!!
Rellum
Roar Guru
I completely forgot this game was on, what does that say?
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
Commiserations eels47. But the Eels will still be playing in the finals and it's a massive improvement from the wooden spoon. Now the Eels need to go for broke against Manly next week. Good luck!
BA Sports
Roar Guru
You can question it. Just don’t have to be a twat about it. But generally challenging anything to do with the Broncos just turns into you telling me I have no idea what I am talking about, so let’s just finish the conversation there and save ourselves both some time.
BA Sports
Roar Guru
Hope you are not questioning the talent of the halves or the coaches plan... that is a forbidden opinion and high treason in the eyes of some...
BA Sports
Roar Guru
You can. Just don’t have to be a twat about it. You win. I’m over it.
Peter
Guest
Scott, yes, I did think that was the issue Klein could have latched onto to rule out the FG. Surely all Boyd needed to do was stand still instead of stepping into Gutherson’s path? Or am I getting confused with Rugby again?