Anthony Seibold identifies Broncos’ biggest problem in slow start to 2019
Brisbane’s spine has come under fire after a shocking opening to 2019, but coach Anthony Seibold has identified a different issue that’s hurting his side — and needs to be fixed right away.
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Brisbane will focus on making every tackle against Cronulla in an attempt to repair their horror start to the NRL season.
Broncos coach Anthony Seibold said crucial one-on-one missed tackles had proved the difference between his side winning and losing in the past two weeks.
The club has come under intense scrutiny for their 1-5 win-loss record, with damning statistics showing the Broncos have conceded the most points (141) in their opening six rounds since their 2010 campaign.
Five-eighth Anthony Milford this week accepted responsibility for his side’s poor start to the season and revealed he had been doing extra training with Brisbane’s defensive coaches to fix his tackling skills.
Seibold felt his side would have won their past few games had it not been for crucial missed tackles.
“Last week, we made five line breaks to four,” he said.
“Five line breaks is enough to win you the game, 22 points is enough to win you a game.
“I don’t see criticism of (the Broncos spine) is necessarily warranted. I haven’t seen attack being our issue at all.
“There’s some things in games we can be better, no doubt about that.
“It’s not our attack, it’s our one-on-one tackles that we’re getting punished for.
“At times, I just think we’ve missed some crucial one-on-ones. Payne (Haas) missed one tackle all game (against the Raiders) and it was a try.
“The week before he missed one tackle and it was the one on (Tigers player Michael) Chee-Kam to lose the game.
“The missed tackles that we are making are ones that are costly.”
The Broncos will be bolstered at Suncorp Stadium with a full-strength forward pack for the first time this year, with the return of Tevita Pangai Jr (suspension) and Matt Lodge (throat injury).
Both players are expected to team up with 19-year-old Haas in the middle in what will be a 353kg prop rotation.
Seibold said he would finally see what his roster had to offer for the first time in his Red Hill tenure.
“It’s great that we do have everyone available,” Seibold said.
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“We did have a bit of a disrupted start with our middle forwards with suspension.
“I think they’ve all missed games through suspension and injuries so to have those guys back in the group it strengthens us and gives us a bit more experience there with Tevita and Lodge.
“I think the younger guys have done a good job so far.
“We made some good strides over the last two weeks. It’s small steps.
“We’ll get a pretty good indication of where we’re at against a pretty good Cronulla team.”
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