Anthony Seibold delivers harsh serve to scrappy Broncos outfit

Brisbane coach Anthony Seibold has delivered some home truths to erratic Broncos stars with a candid dressing-room serve ahead of Thursday night’s blockbuster against premiers the Roosters at the SCG.

Brisbane were slammed by Anthony Seibold following the loss to the Dragons. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

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Brisbane coach Anthony Seibold has delivered some home truths to erratic Broncos stars with a candid dressing-room serve ahead of Thursday night’s blockbuster against premiers the Roosters at the SCG.

Seibold has drawn a cultural line in the sand with the first-year Broncos coach putting the squad on notice with a withering assessment of their narrow 25-24 loss to the Dragons at Suncorp Stadium.

The Courier-Mail understands a frustrated Seibold left Broncos players under no illusions over the performance standards he expects after watching a slew of fundamental errors consign Brisbane to their second loss of the season.

Brisbane were slammed by Anthony Seibold following the loss to the Dragons. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt)

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Some of the club’s most senior staff, including CEO Paul White, were asked to wait outside the dressing room as Seibold rammed home his message to disappointed Broncos players.

Statistically, the Broncos were comprehensively beaten, missing more tackles (34 to 24), making more errors (15 to 9), completing at 70 per cent and managing just two line-breaks to the Dragons’ nine.

Seibold was backed by Brisbane legend Darren Lockyer, who believes the Broncos need to find a harder, more disciplined edge to compete with the big guns – starting this week against the Roosters.

“Seibold told us after the game it (the Dragons loss) is a good learning point. If we don’t turn up, we are going to get blown away by the big sides,” prop Joe Ofahengaue said.

Brisbane made fundamental errors against the Dragons. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)

Broncos winger Corey Oates added: “The coach made it clear what we’ve done wrong.

“He spoke to us and said little errors will become big problems and the more you make the bigger the problem gets.

“We need to become a better team out of it.”

Seibold is trying to inject the up-tempo, enterprising style that won him the NRL’s coach-of-the-year award at Souths last season, but he is concerned at Brisbane’s attitude towards the basics.

“A lot of the little things in our game aren’t where I would like them to be and where we need to be,” he said.

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“We were off in the little areas I keep harping on.

“The effort areas of our game are choices. It doesn’t take talent or skill. We got beaten in those areas by the Dragons and that’s what got them the result.

“The little things are the difference between getting the results you want and losing by one point.

“When you score 24 points you should be able to win the game.

“You win or you learn in the NRL. That’s how I look at it. We need to learn from this.”