Brisbane Broncos players ‘had their heads in rep camp’

While the Broncos admit they “didn’t turn up” in their loss to Parramatta, coach Anthony Seibold believes there was another reason for the insipid performance.

Broncos players’ heads weren’t in the game. Picture: AAP

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The Broncos admit they copped a brutal reality check on Saturday night after going down to Parramatta 38-10.

Coach Anthony Seibold lambasted his players’ performance after they fell to their second straight defeat during the dreaded Origin period.

The head mentor criticised several players for having “their heads in rep camp already” instead of focusing on their job at Red Hill.

It came as up to a dozen Broncos players were called up for representative duties, including State of Origin and Test matches next weekend.

Broncos players’ heads weren’t in the game. Picture: AAP

Brisbane were error-riddled and ill-disciplined in their “embarrassing” loss to the Eels, epitomised by the 26-nil blowout by halftime.

The loss has sentenced the Broncos to 12th position on the premiership ladder, forcing themselves into an uphill battle to reach the top eight by August.

Debutant Sean O’Sullivan said they had gone into the game with confidence but failed to “turn up” like they wanted.

“Everyone’s pretty disappointed,” he said.

“We came with confidence that we were going to win but it’s just disappointing that we didn’t turn up like we wanted to, how we planned to.

“We just need to improve our discipline.

“We gave away a lot of penalties and we turned the ball over in good positions.

“We just need to complete a bit better.”

Anthony Seibold was not happy. Picture: AAP

It was Brisbane’s second-straight loss during this year’s Origin period after being defeated by the Titans at Suncorp Stadium in Round 13.

O’Sullivan said the group had spoken about their insipid opening minutes of a match but were simply out-enthused on Saturday night at Bankwest Stadium.

“We spoke about it before the game that we wanted to get into an arm wrestle with them,” he said.

“We knew they were going to come out fast so we expected it but at the end of the day, we just didn’t match it.”

The Broncos will head into a much-needed week off this weekend before travelling to Newcastle to play the in-form Knights.

“I’m excited about the prospect of playing someone like Mitchell Pearce but to be honest we just have to worry about ourselves,” O’Sullivan said.

“We need to get back to training and work on all the areas that Seibs (Seibold) wants us to work on.”