NRL 2020: Brisbane Broncos’ Kotoni Staggs faces suspension, Alex Glenn injured

As if losing to the Eels so heavily wasn’t bad enough, the Broncos have lost skipper Alex Glenn to injury — and star centre Kotoni Staggs faces two weeks on the sidelines through suspension.

Kotoni Staggs faces a stint on the sidelines. Picture: Scott Davis/NRL Photos

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The hits keep coming for Brisbane.

After crashing to a heavy defeat against Parramatta, and then learning skipper Alex Glenn will undergo surgery, star centre Kotoni Staggs now faces a stint on the sidelines after being charged by the NRL match review committee.

Staggs has been hit with a a grade-two careless high tackle charge for his shot on Parramatta five-eighth Dylan Brown.

Staggs can reduce his suspension to one match if he takes the early guilty plea or risk being rubbed out for two games if he unsuccessfully goes to the judiciary.

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Kotoni Staggs faces a stint on the sidelines. Picture: Scott Davis/NRL Photos

The Broncos earlier suffered another crushing blow with skipper Alex Glenn to undergo surgery for a nasty knee cut — ruling him out of their next clash against the Roosters.

Sidelined for the first two rounds with a hamstring injury, Glenn’s debut as skipper was marred by a deep gash just before halftime and he failed to return for the second half of Brisbane’s 34-6 loss to the Eels.

The Broncos were already missing David Fifita (knee) and Tevita Pangai Jr (suspension) and the loss of Glenn has decimated Brisbane’s back-row stocks ahead of their showdown with the back-to-back premiers.

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Broncos captain Alex Glenn was forced to leave the field with a nasty knee cut.

Brisbane coach Anthony Seibold lamented the Glenn setback as a powerful Parramatta pack consigned the Broncos to their first loss of the season after two consecutive wins.

“Lexi has to have surgery (this) morning,” Seibold said.

“He has had a deep cut so they need to intervene with surgery to make sure the wound is clean.

“I don’t know what happened exactly, but he will have surgery to clean the wound and stitch him back up.

“It’s not ideal with David and Tevita out.”

Much has been made of Brisbane’s young-gun forwards but they blown off the park by a monster Parramatta pack. The Eels destroyed Brisbane in midfield, amassing a staggering 1834 metres to 1046.

This was Glenn’s first game of 2020 after missing the first two rounds.

Eleven of the Eels’ 17-man squad each ran for more than 100 metres with Reagan Campbell-Gillard charging for 177 metres in a barnstorming display.

The Broncos showed some defensive heart in the second half, repelling a number of Eels raids, but eventually the sustained pressure told.

“We were very brave and gutsy in defence at times. We had no ball or field position, with limited footy it was pretty positive,” Seibold said.

“They made us pay, they scored four tries in the second half, it’s a pretty painful lesson for the guys.

“You can see why some judges have got Parramatta as one of the favourites (to win the premiership).”

The Eels were too good for the Broncos, who struggled under the new six-again rules.

Broncos halfback Brodie Croft apparently failed two temperature checks before the game but Seibold insists Brisbane did not breach the NRL’s strict COVID-19 guidelines.

“He had to go to a holding area,” Seibold said.

“He turned up with a high temp but he was OK in the end.

“It’s no excuses, what happened there with Brodie didn’t have an impact on us.”

Parramatta coach Brad Arthur lauded his side’s midfield dominance.

“The forwards were really good, I could have left our forwards out there the whole game. It was a credit to the work they did during the break,” he said.

“We need to back this performance up and start again. We’ve worked hard on this squad and we like the balance of our team.”