South Sydney dispatch Brisbane Broncos for their 10th defeat in 11 games and further embarrassment
Their coach Wayne Bennett might have been out of the picture, but it mattered little for the Rabbitohs as they applied the blowtorch to their former coach and his dismal Brisbane Broncos outfit.
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Watching from a distance, Wayne Bennett still had the last laugh over Anthony Seibold.
And in the grudge match of the season at ANZ Stadium, South Sydney players only piled more pressure on their former coach as the bumbling Brisbane Broncos collapsed to another embarrassing defeat.
While the 28-10 win kept the Rabbitohs in the top eight, it sent the Broncos crashing to their 10th defeat in 11 games since the return from the competition shutdown.
In that time their only win came against last-placed Canterbury.
While Brisbane’s bosses have said previously that there won’t be a review until after the season, it has to raise further questions about how much longer this can go on before someone steps in.
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Seibold came up with plenty of positives to take away from the result post-match.
You could well argue he is missing the point.
Because it was left to young dummy half Jake Turpin to give the entire club a reality check when Turpin was asked about those positives.
“We hear the same every week,” Turpin said. “There is a lot of effort but effort in the NRL isn’t good enough.”
There was a time when Brisbane was a powerhouse.
Now it seems losing has become acceptable. And that’s what’s most sad for a club with such a proud and successful history.
DISGRACEFUL DEFENCE
No, it won’t go down as one of the Broncos’ worst performances this year.
But in saying that Souths were hardly at the standard of what the Roosters were when they put on 59 unanswered points back in round 4.
Or the Tigers with a 48-0 shutout a few weeks back, or Melbourne’s 46-8 pummelling.
With assistant coach Jason Demetriou standing in for the suspended Bennett, the Rabbitohs went on a first half rampage to lead 20-6.
And while the second half turned into a bit of a slog, it was Brisbane’s pitiful defensive in the opening 40 minutes that let them down terribly.
The Rabbitohs built their win on the back of discipline and a tremendous wet weather kicking game from halves Adam Reynolds and Cody Walker.
Demetriou said he spoke “to the big fella” after the game.
The response?
“He just said, ‘congratulations, the boys did a great job’,” Demetriou said.
“Everything we spoke about during the week was about putting them inside their 20 and taking our chances. They handled the conditions really well.”
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But what Brisbane don’t handle is pressure.
And the three tries Souths scored in the first half exposed a standard of defence that was an embarrassment at NRL level.
In particular, the third try scored by replacement forward Mark Nicholls was a disgrace.
Nicholls couldn’t believe his luck as he took a first tackle settler off a tap close to the line and stepped his way straight through the Broncos’ middle forwards.
Overall, Souths’ pack worked hard with Tom Burgess leading the way once again, and Demetriou is right when he says the Souths forwards aren’t getting the raps they deserve.
But as for the young superstar Broncos pack, their confidence is just so broken right now that as soon as any pressure is applied they just fall apart.
Seibold was right in that for a lot of the game they did try hard.
But this is the NRL and it is judged on wins and losses.
Not excuses.
FIFITA v WALKER
The contest between young Brisbane superstar David Fifita and Cody Walker made for fascinating viewing.
In his first game back since round two, the new $3.5 million man brushed past Walker for an early second half try.
Then there was a midfield confrontation when Walker went at it with Fifita and Matt Lodge.
Walker then forced two goal line drop outs against Fifita, pushing him over the dead ball line and then sliding him back in goal.
Giving away a good 20kg easily, it was the type of effort that showed that Walker’s effort has stepped up to another level in recent weeks.
GUS BLOWS UP AT REF
Referee Grant Atkins went out with a point to prove — and did he make it.
All up, there were 13 set restarts and 14 penalties.
In Channel 9 commentary, Phil Gould didn’t miss: “He is way too pedantic. He is looking for penalties that aren’t there. He is having way too much influence on the game.”
HASLER: DISCIPLINE, NOT INJURIES BRING DOWN MANLY
Des Hasler has refused to use Manly’s mounting injury toll as an excuse despite the Sea Eagles top eight hopes taking a serious hit as they lost more troops in a 26-22 loss to the Warriors.
In torrential conditions at Lottoland, Hasler’s 400th first grade game as a coach proved to be memorable for all the wrong reasons, as the Silvertails found it impossible to track down the plucky Warriors and lost three more forwards to injury, including star props Addin Fonua-Blake and Martin Taupau.
“We’ve got to stop using the injury excuse. We had our chances tonight, we had our chances to win this game but we didn’t,” Hasler said.
“We could have won that game at the end tonight. We’ve just got to be more disciplined, more efficient, find better ways to finish our sets, not drop the ball in crucial field position.
“We can always make that up, or talk about combinations, but at the end of the day you’re a professional footballer — hang onto the ball.”
HORROR START
So long as Tom Trbojevic is sidelined every Manly win is worth it’s weight in gold but a truly awful start put paid to any thoughts they had of an easy victory.
Skipper Daly Cherry-Evans was dragged into touch on the first play of the game and things only got worse from there.
New Zealand roared out to a 16-0 lead after tries to Patrick Herbert, Eliesa Katoa and George Jennings and a horrific opening quarter was made worse after star prop Addin Fonua-Blake limped off with a knee injury.
It’s Manly’s second bad start in as many weeks after they were blown off the park in the opening exchanges of their loss to Penrith.
“It’s something we need to fix pretty quickly. Our start today, we had enough possession but we need to stick at it. There’s key parts of the game we’re not efficient at,” Hasler said.
“We were winning these kind of games last year. We should have won that game, we had chances to win it without six or seven regular first graders, so it’s no excuse.”
The Sea Eagles struck back through Tevita Funa and Moses Suli after Warriors hooker Karl Lawton was sin-binned but another Herbert try right on halftime and one to Hiku shortly after the resumption gave the visitor some breathing space.
Haumole Olakau’atu and Jorge Taufua crossed late on to give Manly one last shot at victory, but they could not conjure the winning moment — skipper Daly Cherry-Evans tried hard but lacked support from his fellow playmakers.
SEA EAGLES WINGS CLIPPED
Fonua-Blake suffered a suspected PCL injury and he’s expected to be fit for next week’s clash with Newcastle his absence was compounded when Martin Taupau was concussed after a wild high-shot from Jack Hetherington.
The fiery forward, on-loan from Penrith, was put on report and sin-binned and will surely face a lengthy suspension after Taupau’s night was over prematurely.
He’ll have to pass the NRL’s HIA protocol to be fit for next week’s clash with the Knights and given the Sea Eagles are still without Trbojevic, five-eighth Dylan Walker and backrow duo Curtis Sironen and Joel Thompson the last thing they need is another star on the sidelines.
The impressive Olakau’atu went down late with an ankle problem.
CHT THE MAN TO BE
The Warriors got a glimpse of the future in the early stages of the match with much of their early lead due to the fine play of new halfback Chanel Harris-Tavita.
With Blake Green heading to Newcastle, Harris-Tavita and Kodi Nikorima are the club’s new long-term halves pairing and the 21-year old was in fine touch, putting in a pinpoint kick for Katoa and playing a leading hand in Jennings’ try moments later.
Nathan Brown is expected to be announced as the club’s new coach over the weekend, but it’s clear this is not a team in need of a total rebuild — they’re just two wins out of the top eight and making the finals is not impossible.
“I don’t think they need a rebuild, no way,” said interim coach Todd Payten.
“I said last week after our win that it had been coming for a while. We’ve been taking some small steps in the right direction.
“We had 12 men for a quarter of the game. It wasn’t pretty at times, but we found a way. We showed some care for our jersey, and the guy next to us.
“That last eight or nine minutes we were under the pump and just hung in there, which is the sign of a developing, strong, united team.”
Originally published as South Sydney dispatch Brisbane Broncos for their 10th defeat in 11 games and further embarrassment