Walters holding onto NRL finals hopes despite heavy Dogs loss

The Broncos are in serious danger of missing the finals following a worrying 41-16 belting against the rampant Bulldogs.

Kevin Walters in his post-game press conference.

The Broncos must win every remaining game to be any chance of playing finals football — and coach Kevin Walters is backing his side to do so despite being flogged 41-16 by the Bulldogs at Suncorp Stadium.

Brisbane have five games left in the regular season with matches against the Titans, Cowboys, Eels, Dolphins and Storm. They have a bye in Round 24.

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And Walters’ men will have to find their mojo fast following a “flat” performance in which they were totally outclassed by a red-hot Canterbury outfit.

“We just have got to win, not so much win, we’ve got to win, but just got to get back to playing our footy,” Walters said.

“I’ll try to freshen them up this week and start the game well. I thought we were flat from the start and I don’t know why that is and I have been in that position myself as a player.

Kevin Walters in his post-game press conference.

“You’ve got 40,000 people here and everything is on the line, but it just doesn’t work for you sometimes.

“I’m disappointed and just thought we were a bit flat from the start.

“Maybe Origin has had a bit of an effect on our boys and we just didn’t seem to find our mojo early and they did.

“They’ve been doing it all year and were clearly the better side today.”

Brisbane have recorded just one win from their past eight games including a six-game losing streak before last week’s 30-14 win over the Knights.

Walters had no answers as to why his troops were barely in the contest for the majority of proceedings.

“I can’t explain why we were (flat), but we were and the Bulldogs were very good and came with a good plan to try and beat us and it worked well for them and they need to be patted on the back,” he said.

“But we just weren’t there today for most of it.

“…They kept shifting the ball and kicking into corners which is very hard to get out of when you are a bit flat, but they put us in those positions.

“We will have a discussion about it all and the coaching staff and the players and come up with a plan for next week.

“I believe in them and I believe in what we’re doing … we’ll get back and get ready to box on next week.”

Broncos captain Adam Reynolds agreed with Walters’ assessment adding the performance was not up to NRL standard.

“Like Kev said, it was a flat feeling out there,” he said.

The Broncos react after the heavy defeat at Suncorp Stadium. (Photo by Albert Perez/Getty Images)

“There seemed to be no energy in patches through the game and we tried to dig deep in patches but patches isn’t good enough in the NRL and you’ve got to be consistent throughout the 80 minutes and we weren’t today.

“The Bulldogs were good and showed a lot more energy and that’s disappointing.”

Meanwhile, Broncos centre Deine Mariner sent a scare through his camp after being assisted from the field and up the tunnel in the 73rd minute.

“He’s all right I believe, and I haven’t seen any medical specialist but they seem to believe it’s just a knock on the knee,” Walters said.

“He had trouble running but it wasn’t anything serious that’s going to keep him out long term.”

Reynolds looked in discomfort with a suspected leg injury but confirmed it was just a “cork” and he will be fine for next week.

Originally published as Walters holding onto NRL finals hopes despite heavy Dogs loss