Brisbane Broncos coach Anthony Seibold urges fans to show faith

Broncos coach Anthony Seibold says his players are trying their best but the second-half fadeout against the Storm was another big lesson in how much work needs to be done.

Under-siege Broncos coach Anthony Seibold has implored disgruntled fans to show faith in his team after Brisbane suffered another heavy defeat to the Melbourne Storm on Friday night.

The Broncos threw away an impressive first half performance to lose 46-8 to the Storm at Suncorp Stadium, further heaping the pressure on Seibold as he fights to save his job.

Chairman Karl Morris has guaranteed Seibold will not be sacked before the end of the season, giving him nine games to show there is life at Red Hill heading into a performance review.

Whether Morris and Brisbane’s board stays true to that promise remains to be seen, especially if the Broncos continue to concede 40-plus points.

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Seibold says Broncos young players are learning some tough lessons right now. Picture: Getty Images.

The loss was Brisbane’s eighth defeat in the nine rounds since the NRL season resumed following the COVID lockdown.

They have conceded 94 points in their past two games and have the worst defensive record in the league (337 points).

The expectations on the Broncos have fallen so low that Friday night’s defeat was considered an improvement of sorts.

With six premierships in 32 years, Broncos fans have rarely had to endure such a period of poor performances, but Seibold has urged them to stick with him and his young team.

“If you’re a fan and supporter you’ve got to stick solid through the poor times,” he said.

“The club’s had plenty of good times. This is a real challenge.

“One thing I know is the group I’ve got will get better.

“You can all see we’ve got a lot of guys at the beginning of their careers. They’ve got to get games into them.

“If I’m a Broncos supporter, stick solid with these guys.

“It’s challenging and they’re trying their best. They work hard at training and are learning some big lessons at the moment.”

Seibold saw a real improvement from their loss to the Tigers but says their second half was not good enough. Picture: Getty Images.

For 40 minutes they were competitive and went into halftime trailing 14-8, but when the Storm decided to have a crack Brisbane’s floodgates blew wide open.

There was little defensive resistance from the Broncos in the second half and the Storm scored tries at will as they ran in 40 unanswered points.

“It was a really good first half, the best we’ve played since the season resumption, so that’s what makes it really disappointing,” Seibold said. “If we can play like we did for 40 minutes for longer periods of time then we give ourselves a chance.

“The difference between the two teams was the end of sets and we need to be better when things go against us. We need to be more resilient and show more grit.

“It’s a big score line in the end. We’re not happy in any way, shape or form. Some of these guys are learning.

“It’s not an excuse but we had 12 guys out tonight. It all seems to be happening at once for us at the moment. When things go wrong it goes really wrong.”

Melbourne copped a Bellamy spray at halftime and ran away with the game in the second. Picture: Getty Images.

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Storm coach Craig Bellamy said he was disappointed with his team’s first half attitude after Melbourne scored in the opening 90 seconds then took their foot off the gas.

“I was really disappointed in our first half,” he said.

“The Broncos played with a lot more energy, out-enthused us and were more aggressive in the first half. Our second half was a big improvement.

“We spoke all week about doing what we had to do and not worrying about any noise outside our team and we didn’t really get it done in the first half.

“You’ve got to give the Broncos a bit of credit. We were really fortunate to be in front at halftime.”