NRL 2020: Brisbane Broncos go down to Newcastle Knights 27-6
The Broncos are currently delivering some of the worst standards of football seen in the club’s illustrious 32-year history, going down to the Newcastle Knights in their fourth consecutive loss 27-6.
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Brisbane bosses can continue to live in dreamland but here is the sickening reality — the Broncos are a club in crisis.
Coach Anthony Seibold is losing the group. They have a cultural problem that could tear the club apart.
The Broncos are currently delivering some of the worst standards of football in the club’s illustrious 32-year history.
There can be no other assessment after the Broncos bumbled to a 27-6 loss to Newcastle in Gosford, crashing to their fourth consecutive defeat and shining a forensic torch on Seibold and his playing group.
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Stung by three straight losses, Brisbane should have been desperate, but instead they trailed from start to finish as Knights prop Daniel Saifiti and halfback Mitchell Pearce terrorised Brisbane with their fusion of brain and brawn.
The Broncos (2-4) could finish the weekend in the bottom four and the worry is their senior players — led by Darius Boyd and Anthony Milford — are their biggest failures.
Seibold quit Souths two years ago because he thought he had a premiership team at Brisbane.
They are now closer to the wooden spoon.
On paper, the Broncos should be a top-six team, if not better. But Brisbane’s past month of football has been a downright debacle.
How can Queensland’s so-called sporting flagship — the NRL’s richest club — continue to serve up such ineptitude at a time when the reputation of every player at the Broncos is on the line?
The Broncos had every reason to beat the Knights. Even allowing for the loss of strike centre Kotoni Staggs, they were bolstered by the return of skipper Alex Glenn and boom forward Tevita Pangai Jr.
But Brisbane never looked likely. They are an incohesive rabble. They were bashed in midfield, chaotic and clueless in attack and the dual sin-binning of Jamayne Isaako and Pat Carrigan summed up the collective ill-discipline.
It is an indictment on the Broncos that their youngest player, Xavier Coates, was their best, running for 191 metres and producing their only try with a 95-metre intercept.
Seibold is a coach under siege. He must consider axing the club’s most senior players.
Five years ago, Milford was the best player in the 2015 grand final. Now, his confidence is shot. He had just four runs for nine metres and is being crushed by his forwards’ inability to win the ruck.
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Pangai Jr tried hard in his return but his forward cohorts Matt Lodge, Payne Haas and Tom Flegler was comprehensively hammered by the Knights as Saifiti punched out 197 metres.
The lack of passion and pride was evidenced in the 44th minute, when Daniel Saifiti carried Pangai Jr, Glenn and Joe Ofahengaue across to score the softest of tries.
The Knights bolted to a 12-0 lead inside 22 minutes and while Coates gave the Broncos hope with his 30th minute intercept, a Pearce field goal gave Newcastle a 13-6 halftime lead.
Brisbane, once again, scored a duck in the second half. Enough said.
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