Sharks v Broncos: Five things we learned from Cronulla’s 30-28 win over Brisbane

BRISBANE’s loss to Cronulla revealed who is the most important player to the Broncos — check out what else we learned from the match.

Jordan Kahu scores a try for the Broncos.

1. Cronulla treated Anthony Milford like most teams treat Johnathan Thurston, bashing him every time he touched the ball.

They piled in with knees and elbows on the ground and tested the referee but it worked. He had no space and became frustrated.

2. Queensland fans will be happy about James Maloney’s good form as he is again likely to be picked for NSW alongside Mitchell Pearce. Maloney is approaching his 2013 form at the Sydney Roosters.

3. Ben Barba would have taken extra pleasure from defeating the Broncos. He played through injury at the Broncos and is understandably bitter about the experience. At Cronulla, he is becoming the player Brisbane at one stage thought they bought.

James Maloney is in good form for the Sharks.

4. Paul Green lashed his representative players for looking ahead to Friday’s Test and the Broncos players were perhaps guilty of doing the same in the first half. The senior players just did not play with their usual energy but you can’t be up every week.

5. Adam Blair is the most important player at the Broncos. Brisbane pride themselves on their goal-line defence, especially in the middle, and force teams to go wide to score.

Without Blair the Sharks scored three tries around the posts in the first half.

Jordan Kahu scores a try for the Broncos.