Brisbane Broncos equal their worst start to the season with loss
It’s official. The Brisbane Broncos have equalled their worst ever start to the season after their loss to the Canberra Raiders left them languishing 1-5 for the season. Read the full autopsy here.
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Pressure is beginning to build at Red Hill after the Broncos were defeated 26-22 by shared ladder leaders Canberra in their crucial Easter Sunday clash.
In front of 17,193 fans at GIO Stadium, Brisbane have equaled their worst start to a season, falling to just the one win from their opening six games.
Not since the 1999 Broncos has Brisbane started the season with a 1-5 win-loss ratio and history suggests it will be difficult for them to break their premiership drought from here.
Brisbane’s defence has been an issue so far this season and with the 26 points scored against them last night, it takes them to their most points conceded (141) in their opening six rounds since 2010.
It was a scrappy defensive effort by the Broncos which allowed the Raiders to come from behind 14-16 with 20 minutes to go.
Tries to Raiders John Bateman and Ryan Sutton came off lapses in the Broncos defence and cemented Canberra’s fifth win of the season.
The Broncos went into the match with the omission of Matt Lodge (injury) and Tevita Pangai Jr (suspension) while fullback Darius Boyd was hampered by a niggling knee injury going into the game.
Brisbane’s forwards were strong with each enforcer running for more than 100m each to build momentum down the middle.
But the Broncos just simply couldn’t crack through Canberra’s strong defence.
Broncos coach Anthony Seibold said the poor start to the season was a learning curve for the side.
“I thought if anything, we could improve on … key moments in defence,” he said.
“It’s a little bit frustrating at the moment but we’re having a red hot crack.
“We’ve had three really close ones out of the past four games and when they don’t go your way I think you are very disappointed but, for me, it’s important to stay composed and look at the bigger picture.
“Although things haven’t gone our way results-wise, the young guys are learning.
“It’s small steps for us and disappointing to be one from six but the reality is that’s where we’re at. We’ve got to continue to improve.”
Seibold said despite the 1-5 win-loss ratio he was impressed by his younger players.
“We had five players under 21 playing down our middle and that’s exciting because they’re learning on the run but they’ve showed that they’re NRL players,” he said.
“We’re not a million miles away and getting lapped every week.
“It’s disappointing because we’re one from six if you look purely at results but if you look at the progress we made, we had Tom Flegler and Payne Haas with nine NRL games between them and they were our starting front rowers.
“We finished the game with three 19-year-old middle (forwards). I thought those guys had a red-hot crack.”
It was billed as a crucial match for Brisbane as they went into the match with a worrying 1-4 start to the season and they failed to deliver.
The Broncos were always going to find it difficult to find points coming up against the best defence in the NRL this year.
The Raiders went into the match having conceded the fewest points and linebreaks of any team and they proved the better team last night.
Despite a valiant effort towards the back end of the game, it was too little too late for the Broncos as they slumped to their fourth loss in a row.
It sets up a must-win clash at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night against a struggling Cronulla side.
Boyhood Broncos fan Nick Cotric opened the scoring for Canberra in the seventh minute during the Raiders’ first attacking set near the tryline.
Broncos halfback Kodi Nikorima hit back 10 minutes later to even the scores but a double through Canberra’s BJ Leilua took the Raiders out to a 14-4 lead into halftime.
The Broncos were valiant out of the sheds to take the lead 16-14 through a clever Anthony Milford kick to allow winger Corey Oates to score.
But back-to-back Canberra tries, including one straight through Payne Haas on the tryline, took their lead out to 26-18.
A late try to Bronco Jack Bird had Brisbane back in the hunt at 26-22 with a minute to go but in the end it was Canberra’s defence which held them out.
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