NRL 2022: Broncos vs Parramatta Eels is Brisbane’s first real test of premiership hopes, Steve Renouf
The Broncos looks set for their first finals appearance in three years, but club legend Steve Renouf says their first test on their premiership credentials is approaching.
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Brisbane legend Steve Renouf says the Broncos can start thinking about a full-blown premiership assault if they knock over Parramatta in Sydney on Thursday night.
The Broncos can just about lockup a finals berth with a win over the Eels but Walters has made his premiership intentions crystal clear and there could be no bigger game in the run home than the blockbuster at CommBank Stadium.
History says no team has won the premiership from outside the top four in the NRL era and with a freefalling Melbourne Storm ready to be overtaken, the time is ripe for the fifth-placed Broncos to take their post-season destiny into their own hands, says Renouf.
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“If they pull this one off against the Eels I think they’re pretty well set,” he told News Corp.
“I think this would be the game (Walters) is marking himself on. I love the way they’ve gone about it the last couple of weeks without all of those players. He has the boys in the right frame of mind.
“These are the games where they get to see where they’re really at.”
A win over the Eels would heap huge pressure on the Storm who have dropped their past three matches and lost star fullback Ryan Papenhuyzen to a season-ending knee injury in the loss to Canberra.
While finals rivals Melbourne, Cronulla and the Roosters all took significant injury hits over the weekend the Broncos are set to welcome back a quartet of top-line talent on Thursday, having successfully navigated a tricky two-week stretch with a skeleton squad.
Maroons trio Patrick Carrigan, Corey Oates and Kurt Capewell will return to the line-up, as will boom prop Corey Jensen who has missed the past two games with a calf complaint.
Payne Haas is facing a race against the clock to recover from a shoulder in time for Thursday night, while Walters has already ruled out Selwyn Cobbo who was heavily concussed early in Origin III.
The winner of Thursday night’s blockbuster could find themselves in the top four at round’s end, if the Storm’s losing streak stretches to four at the hands of the Rabbitohs on Saturday.
Regardless, Renouf believes Walters has done the right thing by putting premiership talk on the agenda, even though the Broncos have not played finals since 2018.
“Kevvie could just relax and say, ‘Well we’ve had a successful season and I’m good’, but he’s pushing the boys by (mentioning a premiership) and that’s a good thing – it puts them under a bit of pressure, it’s great incentive for them,” Renouf said.
“I think how Kevvie is talking and thinking is a good thing.”
It’s an incredible turnaround for club and coach who this time last year were sitting 15th and Walters’ coaching ability was repeatedly called into question.
It has taken time for the rugby league cognoscenti to believe in the Broncos as a genuine contender this season and Renouf says he became a true believer after the win over the Dragons a fortnight ago.
It was a backs-against-the-wall display that lit a fire in the 183-game Broncos legend and one he says should instil great belief in the playing group come finals time.
“I thought that game was pretty telling,” Renouf said.
“(Walters) has had the opportunity to bring these young boys in and they’ve shown him they can do it. It’s nearly been the perfect storm for them to be honest.”
“If they can ride this wave in and win more than they lose I think they’re every chance. Like Queensland heading into the third Origin, there’s no reason why this team can’t win.”
HAAS MYSTERY AS WALTERS FINALLY UTTERS ‘P’ WORD
—Peter Badel
Broncos coach Kevin Walters has declared he wants premierships, not playoffs, as he welcomes back a raft of big guns for the Parramatta clash that can seal Brisbane’s finals redemption.
Two years of misery at the Broncos has been emphatically swept away by a Red Hill revolution under Walters, who has transformed Brisbane from wooden spooners to a team on the brink of their first finals campaign in three seasons.
Key Origin trio Kurt Capewell, Corey Oates, Pat Carrigan and injured prop Corey Jensen will return this week to bolster a fifth-placed Broncos side that will officially clinch a playoff berth with an Eels victory at CommBank Stadium on Thursday night.
When Walters took charge in September 2020, he inherited a Broncos basket case fractured by the club’s first-ever wooden spoon and one of his first promises was to cultivate team-first unity at Red Hill.
In the space of 18 months, Walters has turned the Broncos into genuine finals contenders.
But the Broncos legend, a proven winner who claimed six premierships as a player, says he will not be truly satisfied until he constructs a history-making squad that breaks Brisbane’s 16-year title drought.
“The atmosphere at the Broncos is to win premierships, not play finals,” Walters said ahead of their CommBank blockbuster against the sixth-placed Eels (+36), who only trail Brisbane (+61) on percentages.
“That’s what we are about as a club.
“We haven’t really been speaking about finals footy, we are trying to get better as a group, particularly around our defence.
“I thought our scramble defence was really good (in Saturday night’s gutsy 16-12 defeat of the Titans) and that is the part of the game you need for us to get to where we want to go.
“We have thrown that (a goal to win Brisbane’s seventh premiership) out there and when that happens I don’t know, but we are heading in the right direction for all of that to take place.”
Marquee off-season recruit Adam Reynolds won a premiership ring at Souths in 2014 and the Broncos skipper admits Walters’ class of 2022 are not yet the finished article as they look to challenge title heavyweights Penrith and Melbourne.
But Reynolds’ decorated 10-year, 244-game career has given Brisbane’s talismanic halfback sufficient perspective to believe the Broncos are developing the right mix of youth and experience to lift another NRL trophy.
“I don’t want to jinx it (their premiership ambitions), but we have a great group here,” said Reynolds, who was outstanding in the Titans derby.
“There is still a lot of hard work ahead of us.
“It (playing finals this season) is everything we have set out to do. The coaching staff have been fantastic, they have been really diligent in the way they prepare us and it’s enjoyable to turn up to work every day.
“We aren’t exactly where we need to be to challenge the best teams, but when you look at the results for the Broncos last year (finishing 14th) ... we have taken a step in the right direction.”
The Broncos have gone into an Origin-style camp at Kingscliff on the NSW far north-coast to prepare for the Eels clash.
Star prop Payne Haas (shoulder) is racing the clock to be fit, but Walters is relishing the return of Maroons heroes Capewell, Oates and Carrigan. A fourth Origin player, winger Selwyn Cobbo, heavily concussed in the Suncorp decider, will play the following week in round 20 against the Tigers.
“Payne is looking pretty good but we won’t rush him,” Walters said.
“We still have a lot of games to get through this year and if he’s available and ready to go, we will certainly play him, but if he’s not, we will give him another rest because we have a 10-day turnaround for the Tigers game, so that might suit Payne.
“Corey Jensen will be back and all our Origin guys will be back except for Selwyn, so we have some good players ready to come back in.
“It’s been a tough period, so it’s nice to get through the Origin period with a few wins.”
Blow up the bunker: Rookie Bronco robbed of first try
Champion halfback Adam Reynolds has put the Broncos on the cusp of a club-defining finals appearance with a playmaking masterclass to break Gold Coast’s hearts 16-12 at Cbus Super Stadium.
Before 19,245 fans at Robina, the Broncos overcame the loss of a slew of Origin stars, a disgraceful bunker call and a plucky Titans outfit to underline their mental fortitude in a pulsating Queensland derby.
Missing key top-liners Kurt Capewell, Selwyn Cobbo, Pat Carrigan, Corey Oates, Payne Haas, Te Maire Martin and Corey Jensen, the second-string Broncos got home on sheer heart — and the cool head of Reynolds.
The Broncos paid $2.4 million for Reynolds to get them home in clutch moments and the premiership halfback did just that at Robina to all-but seal Brisbane’s first finals appearance in three years.
The Broncos will finish the weekend fifth on percentages and their 11th win is already one more victory than the Titans tallied last season in Gold Coast’s march to the 2021 playoffs.
The Titans looked set for a boilover when they led 12-10 after 54 minutes, but Reynolds’ 55th-minute try and clinical kicking game turned the screws on the Coast in the championship minutes.
“We haven’t spoken about the finals,” Broncos coach Kevin Walters. “At the Broncos, we want to aim higher, but I liked our tenacity … it’s nice to get through the Origin period with some wins.”
BLOW UP THE BUNKER
The NRL must undertake a full-scale review of the Bunker. The decision to deny Broncos back-rower Zac Hosking a 64th-minute try was as flawed as it was embarrassing.
Running a superb line, Hosking charged onto a Reynolds pass and clearly kept his ball-carrying arm above the turf as he reached out in one motion to plant the ball across the stripe.
But the Bunker flashed the red light, inexplicably penalising Hosking for a double movement to the dismay of the rookie and skipper Reynolds.
It was a shocking call — and the NRL should breathe a sigh of relief that it didn’t cost Brisbane victory.
“I thought it was a try, but some calls go your way and some don’t,” Walters said.
HALF THEIR LUCK
The talismanic Reynolds has been a godsend for the Broncos during the representative season.
The Origin grind has robbed Brisbane of one-third of their starting side, but amid the selection upheaval, Reynolds has been a stabilising beacon of brilliance for the Broncos.
It was Reynolds’ pass for Delouise Hoeter’s try five seconds before halftime which levelled scores at 6-all. When the skipper crashed over himself off a slick Tyson Gamble pass for what proved a matchwinning 16-12 lead, Reynolds celebrated 2000 career points.
“Adam’s game management and his calmness, it’s very influential,” Walters said. “It’s a pleasure to have him in the side, we have always had the effort but Adam has the smarts.”
WING AND A PRAYER
Stand-in wingers Jordan Pereira and Hoeter were outstanding for the Broncos.
Without Oates and Cobbo, the underrated duo stepped up superbly, with Hoeter picking up a first-half try and Pereira crashing over after the break to ignite Brisbane’s fightback at 12-10.
The pair finished with a combined 273 metres from 32 hit-ups, demonstrating the depth that will sweep the Broncos to the finals.
THE RE-EEL DEAL?
Brisbane’s road trip to Parramatta, the scene of their woeful 58-0 finals massacre in 2019, will be a compelling insight into the Broncos’ bona fides as a top-eight team.
The Broncos will head to Sydney’s west on a short turnaround and Brisbane will welcome back their Origin big guns for a showdown with the Eels that could determine whether they can be top-four dark horses.
Titans dig in to ease pressure on Holbrook
— Travis Meyn
Besieged Titans coach Justin Holbrook may have bought himself more time after the Gold Coast suffered a heartbreaking 16-12 loss to the Broncos in a pulsating Queensland derby.
The Titans went within a whisker of snapping a six-game losing streak in front of 19,245 at Cbus Super Stadium on Saturday night in what was one of their best performances of the season.
While it was a seventh straight loss, the Titans were arguably the better side for much of the match, playing with enthusiasm and desperation.
Holbrook went into the game with his future hanging by a thread given the Titans have only won three games this year and are in wooden spoon contention in 15th spot on the ladder.
The third-year coach now has a 35.5 per cent winning record and faces a fight to save his job.
However the Titans showed enough spark to suggest Holbrook may be able to turn things around, if Gold Coast powerbrokers haven’t already made up their minds.
“I’m disappointed, we didn’t win,” Holbrook said. “I’m feeling okay. I feel we’ve got the right things moving forward. We’ve got everything in place. We’re just not getting the wins.
“We came up with too many errors. We came as close as you can get without winning a game of footy.
“We’re lacking a bit of confidence. We’ve come so close so many times.
“We’ve still got seven games to play. There was a lot to like about the players and performance, just not the scoreboard.”
TITANS IMPROVE, BUT NOT ENOUGH
The Titans were clearly the better side in the opening 40 and should have taken a 6-nil lead into the break, only to concede with five seconds left on the clock.
Fullback AJ Brimson was electric with 218m and prop Moeaki Fotuaika (182m) played his best game of the year to set a platform for the Titans.
The Titans looked a far different team to the one that turned in a turgid performance in their last-start loss to Newcastle, which prompted Holbrook to wield the selection axe on the likes of Jamayne Isaako and Brian Kelly.
Debutant winger Jojo Fifita (168m) produced some stunning plays and former hooker Erin Clark (153m, seven tackle busts) was a revelation at lock.
The Titans defended stoically and ran with vigour, albeit playing a conservative brand of football in the first half that was low on risk as they looked to snap a six-game losing streak.
BUMBLING TITANS IMPLODE
After extending their lead early in the second half through Jaimin Jolliffe, the Titans kept inviting Brisbane back into the game instead of putting the Broncos away.
Beau Fermor’s sloppy hands allowed Jordan Pereira and Adam Reynolds to score in quick succession to give the Broncos a 16-12 lead after 56 minutes.
If the Bunker didn’t rob Zac Hosking of a try the Broncos may have raced away to a comfortable win and Titans centre Phil Sami bombed what could have been the matchwinning try.
Reynolds’ composure and game management was the difference between the sides and showed how badly the Titans need a senior playmaker to support youngster Toby Sexton.
With some maturity in their side this was a game the Titans could have easily won.
They produced the right sort of effort after some shocking games in recent rounds and Holbrook may get more time to turn things around.
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Originally published as NRL 2022: Broncos vs Parramatta Eels is Brisbane’s first real test of premiership hopes, Steve Renouf
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