Broncos v Rabbitohs: Strange times at Suncorp Stadium for NRL round two
Anthony Milford’s wonder try was witnessed live by a total of no fans while Souths coach Wayne Bennett sat behind the goalposts on a weird night at Suncorp.
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Broncos star Anthony Milford scored one of the greatest tries in his NRL career – and the crowd didn’t go wild.
The bizarre coronavirus crisis of the NRL arrived in Brisbane on Friday night as the Broncos went to battle with the South Sydney Rabbitohs at an empty Suncorp Stadium.
The spiritual home of Queensland rugby league holds 52,500 people. On Friday night, The Courier-Mail counted 12 sitting in the grandstands.
One of those was Wayne Bennett – the former Brisbane Broncos coach turned Rabbitohs mentor who took advantage of the unique situation to sit behind the goalposts at the southern end.
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At one stage, the television cameras caught Bennett coughing. Oh no!
With sponsorship signage conveniently placed in front of him, Bennett and his support staff watched on in near silence.
With a spare seat between them, of course, to appease the social distancing guidelines.
The players’ calls could be heard clearly. Every profanity was crystal clear.
The Broncos did their best to make this game as “normal” as possible.
There was pre-game music and the team was introduced by the ground announcer.
When they ran out, fire blasted out of cannons to the tune of “Let’s go Broncos”.
But this was no normal night.
And nothing summed that up better than the reaction when Milford beat seven Rabbitohs defenders to score one of the great individual tries.
As the Broncos No. 6 slammed the ball into the turf, much like league legend Wally Lewis once famously did, there was a deafening silence.
Of course, the Broncos’ bench and few staff applauded but that’s when it all became real.
The world has changed immensely in an incredibly short time.
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The Broncos opened their 2020 NRL campaign at a packed Townsville Stadium a week ago.
The crowd was raucous, even as the Broncos upstaged the local Cowboys.
There should have been 40,000 people at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night for what is one of the Broncos’ biggest games of the season.
Instead, there was a total of less than 300.
At least they can say they were there for one of Milford’s finest moments.
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