New-look Broncos off to flying start in NRL title defence
A Brisbane team featuring nine debutants continued their unbeaten run to kick off their second NRLW season with a dominating victory under new head coach Kelvin Wright.
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New-look Broncos, same old commanding result as they launched their NRLW title defence with a 14-4 win over St George Illawarra at Bankwest Stadium.
Brisbane muscled their way through the 60-minute clash in front of 6609 fans to continue their undefeated run in the NRLW in their mission to claim back-to-back titles.
The much-hyped grudge match saw five former Broncos line up in the opposing Red-V colours, including Dally M winner Brittany Breayley.
But the revamped Broncos side, with eight club debutants, continued their unbeaten run in their second season with a dominating win under new coach Kelvin Wright.
Wright was pleased with his side’s performance.
“I suppose it was a bit of an unknown going into that Round 1 clash,” Wright said.
“I just thought it was a great grind and we hung in really tough. I thought that second half we really stepped up.
“We had eight players making their first appearance for our club. Ali Brigginshaw and Raecene McGregor, they’ve got great game management and that showed in the second half.”
Any fears the Broncos would lose their strikepower from dummy-half with the loss of Breayley was put to bed early on when premiership-winning utility Lavinia Gould stepped up in her place.
Brisbane No.9 Gould led the side from the outset, finishing the game with 33 tackles and a remarkable try assist to debutant Amber Paris-Hall.
Despite the Broncos’ forward pack losing the size and impact of Maitua Feterika and Teuila Fotu-Moala, who both starred for the Dragons, Brisbane’s new engine room fired on all cylinders.
Rugby union sensation Millie Boyle capped off a great rugby league debut, running for 104m.
The only sour point of the match for the Broncos was a late injury suffered by debutant Tarryn Aiken, who was carried off the field with what appeared to be an ankle problem.
It was a low-scoring first half, with scores locked at 4-all at the break.
The Broncos started to hit their stride in the second stanza as their dangerous right-edge combination of Amber Pilley and Meg Ward helped give Brisbane an 8-4 lead with 20 minutes to go.
Lock Rona Peters sealed Brisbane’s win when she crossed in the 49th minute.
The Dragons looked threatening at times but lacked the polish close to the tryline to overcome the premiers.
BRONCOS 14 (Amber Paris-Hall, Meg Ward, Rona Peters) d DRAGONS 4 (Shakiah Tungai).
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Originally published as New-look Broncos off to flying start in NRL title defence