NRL 2022: Brisbane Broncos sweat on Kurt Capewell fitness for Parramatta Eels clash
The Broncos could be forced to call upon a promising youngster, with star backrower Kurt Capewell racing the clock to be fit for their must win Eels clash.
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Penrith-bound Broncos back-rower Zac Hosking could be brought back into the team for Thursday night’s blockbuster clash with Parramatta after Kurt Capewell failed to train with the main group on Monday.
Broncos head of performance Dave Ballard had previously labelled Capewell’s ankle injury as “not serious” but the 29-year-old was seen running a gamut of fitness tests off to the side as Hosking took his place with the starters during Monday’s session.
Losing Capewell’s experience would be a massive blow for the Broncos who must win at least one of their remaining two games to punch a ticket into the post-season, with Canberra hot on their heels.
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Skipper Adam Reynolds backed the Maroons utility to get himself right in time for Thursday night but had faith in Hosking to do the job if called upon.
“Capes is a seasoned professional now. He knows how to look after his body, he’s managing it well … he’s good at missing a couple of sessions,” joked Reynolds.
“He’s assured us he’ll be there (on Thursday). No doubt we’ll see him come the captain’s run.
“ (Hosking) trained there today. He’s played two games for us this year and was probably our best (player) in those two games so he wouldn’t be out of place in the team and would be a healthy addition.”
Kobe Hetherington was also missing on Monday as he battles a leg infection, while Corey Oates trained with a compression sock on his left calf but otherwise looked fit.
Even if Capewell does get up Hosking could still be considered for a recall after the Broncos’ middles were beaten up by the Storm on Friday night.
Brisbane’s defensive frailties were laid bare in the 60-12 rout with a staggering 52 missed tackles telling a tepid tale.
“We know we’re a capable footy side. We know we can play well, it’s just about making sure we can do that for 80 minutes and not in patches,” Reynolds said.
“We’ve shown over the year we can do that.”
Kevin Walters’ side has won just one of its past four matches and totalled 164 missed tackles in that span; 42 more than any other top-eight contender.
The Broncos are limping towards the post-season with the worst missed tackle percentage of any contending team and they host a Parramatta side on Thursday night that has become the benchmark for sound defence over the same period.
The coaching staff has just six days to solve the mystery and injecting a hungry Hosking back into the fray will be a consideration.
Reynolds will play his 250th NRL game on Thursday night and allowed himself to reflect on the early stages of his career, admitting he “thought the dream was over” when he tore the ACL in his left knee in the 2011 pre-season.
“I had a knee reconstruction coming out of the 20s and thought the dream was over. I got started in the gym with Michael Crocker, Roy Asotasi and learned the professionalism of the sport,” Reynolds said.
“It was probably a blessing in disguise.”
Now the 32-year-old veteran playmaker, who was brought to the club for big games like Thursday night, will be tasked with righting the Broncos’ ship just as he did his own a decade ago.
“Obviously the pathway to get there (the NRL) wasn’t a smooth one but it sort of shapes the character that builds you,” Reynolds said.
“(The Storm game) wasn’t a great performance from us as a club but if we’re getting judged off one game … it’s a long season,” he added.
“We’ve put that behind us now and it’s about moving forward.”
WORRYING FIGURE THAT COULD DECIDE BRONCOS’ FINALS FATE
The Brisbane Broncos are checking their rear view for a Canberra Raiders side that is much closer than it once appeared as the finals fate of the two clubs goes down to the wire.
Brisbane’s capitulation at the hands of a surging Melbourne Storm has brought Canberra back into finals calculations after the Raiders took care of business in Newcastle on Sunday to move within one win of the top eight.
What looked like a win-and-in scenario for the Broncos has been muddied by their 48-point drubbing to the Storm, with the for-and-against gap to Canberra now sitting at 44 points with two games to play.
The Raiders’ run home features not just winnable games against Manly and the Wests Tigers, but possible percentage-boosting outings given the shocking form of those two sides in recent weeks.
Manly was just trounced 40-6 by Cronulla and the Tigers had an even worse fate, dealt a 66-point thumping by the Roosters.
The Broncos cannot afford to concede ground in Thursday’s blockbuster against Parramatta, lest Canberra catch a late-season gust of wind and come home with a wet sail.
Brisbane’s decline over the past month, which has seen Kevin Walters’ side drop from top-four contenders to fighting for finals, was exposed in full by their bogey team Melbourne on Friday night.
But one benefit of the late-season form slump could be the receipts Brisbane brings to the table when the club and Payne Haas re-open contract negotiations at the end of the campaign.
Haas’ mid-season release request threatened to derail the Broncos’ resurgent year before club and player agreed to park talks to season’s end.
The 22 year old is set to earn $850,000 next season but the reigning Dally M Prop of the Year wants to push that figure closer to $1m.
The power prop’s chance to prove his worth came when Pat Carrigan was dealt a four-game suspension but it is fair to say Haas has underperformed in that span, including just 86 run metres against the Storm.
Conjecture around who of Haas or Carrigan deserves a pay bump heightened after the latter led Queensland to an upset State of Origin series victory and won the Wally Lewis Medal.
“That $850,000 looks about spot on for next season,” one player agent told News Corp.
“It would be a genuine surprise if any club could afford to play $1 million a season for a prop at this stage because their plans are already in place for next season’s franchise players which is what you are when you get paid seven figures.
“One of the few clubs which could afford it would be the Dolphins, but Wayne Bennett is not known for overspending on props which is why there were problems with Petero Civoniceva’s contract offers when he was at the Broncos.
“And would the Broncos seriously consider letting Haas get out of the last two years of his contract to join their new rivals? I can’t see it.”
REYNOLDS INSISTS BRONCOS AREN’T DONE
- Travis Meyn, Peter Badel
Adam Reynolds insists the Broncos can rebound from their Storm humiliation as coach Kevin Walters urged battered Brisbane to not blow their 2022 resurgence.
The Broncos were exposed as NRL premiership pretenders in a 60-12 thrashing by Melbourne at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night, missing 41 tackles and making 11 errors in a dreadful display.
The 48-point drubbing was Brisbane’s 12th straight loss to bogey team Melbourne and their heaviest ever defeat to the Storm, eclipsing the 50-4 hammering in 2005.
The Broncos lacked defensive commitment, looked slow and out of ideas against a surging Storm team led superbly by spine superstars Cameron Munster, Jahrome Hughes and Harry Grant.
Having suffered three losses in their past four games, the Broncos must beat either the Eels or Dragons in the last two weeks of the regular season to guarantee a drought-breaking finals berth.
Even then, they face a week one exit unless Walters can conjure a miracle form turnaround at Red Hill, such has been the dramatic slide of the Broncos since a seven-game mid-season winning streak.
Despite the widening cracks at the Broncos, captain Reynolds insisted hope was not lost and Brisbane could bounce back a fortnight out from the play-offs, beginning with Thursday’s home game against Parramatta.
“We’ve got to look forward and use that disappointment as motivation,” he said.
“It’s always a shitty feeling sitting in the change rooms when you know you haven’t done your job. It’s about moving forward now.
“We can bounce back. We’ve still got two weeks to go in this competition and they’re must-win games for us.
“When they are must-win games you’ve got to perform. It’ll be interesting to see how we respond, I’m sure we will.
“I know I’m hungry to turn things around and get our season back where it should be. I’m sure the boys have got the same feeling.”
A loss like this has been brewing for the Broncos, who were shocked by the last-placed Tigers in round 20 and haven’t responded apart from a dusty win against the in-crisis Knights last weekend.
The Storm shellacking prompted Walters to deliver an honesty session in the bowels of Suncorp and hooker Jake Turpin said the Broncos were determined to not throw their season away following two shocking years in 2020-21.
“We spoke in the sheds about not going through this whole year and getting ourselves into a spot to play finals, then letting it all down with some terrible performances like that,” he said.
“We have two tough games to go against Parramatta and the Dragons so hopefully we find some good form over the next few weeks and get into the finals.
“When you get beat by a considerable amount like we did, a lot of it is your mentality going into the game. We all know how good the Storm are and they are even better when they come here, it’s the biggest game of the year for them coming to Suncorp. Our defence just didn’t show up.
“I can’t explain what happened. I know Pat Carrigan (suspended) runs our defence and helps us out there, but there’s 17 blokes out there who can all do that job and we just didn’t do it which is disappointing.
“I am embarrassed. It’s embarrassing for the fans and it’s embarrassing for the rest of the week, we have to turn it around against Parramatta next week and I hate being around town letting our fans and members down with a performance like that.
“The one thing I can promise is we will go back to training and try and turn this around very quickly against the Eels.”
In another blow for Brisbane, backrower Kurt Capewell (ankle) is racing the clock to face the Eels while centre Herbie Farnworth (biceps) is not ready to return.
SHELLSHOCKED WALTERS REACTS TO STORM SMASHING
Shell-shocked Broncos coach Kevin Walters insists his side’s self-belief has not been shattered beyond repair in the wake of their embarrassing 60-12 loss to the Storm.
Seemingly finals certainties a month ago, the Broncos have been plunged into a desperate fight to save their season — and their playoff hopes — after being ripped apart by the Storm in a 10-tries-to-two mauling at Suncorp Stadium.
The Broncos conceded just 60 points in a game for the second time in their decorated 34-year history and they must defeat the Eels next Thursday night at Suncorp to officially seal a finals berth.
Brisbane’s defence has fallen apart in the past month and while stunned by the demolition, Walters is confident his side can pick up the pieces to qualify for the playoffs.
“I’m not nervous about it (making the finals),” Walters said.
“Even after the disappointment of this, I have a lot of faith in this group and what they can do.
“I’m expecting a good reaction from our fellas next week.
“I’m quite surprised with the result, the guys have worked hard, but we didn’t have the resilience to stop the Storm.
“Every week you learn about yourselves and we are learning every week.
“We have to get on things, we still have two more games to go and we have to do our best to fight back next week.”
In a further blow for the Broncos, key back-rower Kurt Capewell rolled his ankle and is in doubt for next week’s clash against the Eels.
The Broncos have lost three of their past four games and have been given stinging reality checks by big guns the Storm and Roosters in the past three weeks.
Champion skipper Adam Reynolds is adamant the Broncos’ season has not been derailed by the Melbourne drubbing.
“We were right in it in the first part of the game, we just couldn’t stop the momentum, it was pretty disappointing,” he said.
“We have to look forward and use that disappointment as motivation.
“You feel sick in the change rooms with a performance like that. We can bounce back, there’s two weeks to go, we need to bounce back and I’m sure we will.
“I am hungry to turn things around and get the side back on track.”
Broncos’ shortcomings exposed by brutal Storm
Brisbane face a nervous final fortnight to book a top-eight berth after the rampaging Storm dished out a brutal finals reality check with a 60-12 belting of the woeful Broncos at Suncorp Stadium.
Before 42,612, Brisbane’s bogey team returned to inflict more misery, consigning the Broncos to their 12th consecutive defeat to the Storm and their worst-ever loss to Melbourne.
Melbourne’s previous best win over Brisbane was 50-4 at Olympic Park in 2005 — but this 48-point carve-up was even more emphatic.
It was a savage Suncorp stitch-up from the Storm, who profited from the return of Jahrome Hughes (shoulder) as the star halfback combined with Harry Grant and Cameron Munster to slice and dice the Broncos.
The Storm bolted out of the blocks, charging to a 24-6 halftime lead before posting their highest-ever score on the Broncos as they celebrated a half century in a 10-tries-to-two trouncing.
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After looking finals certainties a month ago, the teetering Broncos — fourth after 19 rounds — are suddenly looking nervously over their shoulders.
If the Roosters (26 points) beat Wests Tigers and Parramatta (28) dispose of Canterbury, Brisbane (28) will finish the weekend eighth on percentages, two wins ahead of ninth-placed Canberra, who play Newcastle on Sunday.
The Broncos face the Eels at home next Thursday night and the Dragons (away) in their final two games and must win at least one of those to ensure they play finals football.
FINALS FODDER
The menacing Melbourne machine played like perennial premiership contenders; the Broncos wobbled like title pretenders.
Brisbane’s resurrection this season should be commended but they need a rapid turnaround in form to survive past the first week of the finals — if they make it.
Their defence has fallen apart. This was embarrassing. The Broncos have missed more than 180 tackles in the past five weeks and they risk limping into the finals with question marks about their defensive resilience.
Playing with more energy and intensity, the Storm ripped Brisbane apart in midfield via Brandon Smith and Grant, who crashed over in the 43rd minute for 30-6 before a Justin Olam double buried bumbling Brisbane.
WILD ABOUT HARRY
Storm rake Grant demonstrated everything the Broncos are missing around the rucks. While Jake Turpin and Billy Walters are wholehearted performers, Grant is simply a class act and he carved up the Broncos with his guile and vision. Cameron Smith’s successor can steer Melbourne to another title.
TOUGH PROP-OSITION
Brisbane need more from starting props Payne Haas and Tom Flegler if they want to challenge in September.
Haas started the season superbly but since injuring both shoulders mid-season, he has struggled to make the same impact and was held to 81 metres _ his second worst output of the season.
Front-row cohort Flegler (58m) was also rendered impotent as the Storm’s pumped-up forwards rumbled through midfield like the heavy roller at the Gabba. Not one Broncos forward made 100 metres.
MAN OH MAM
Brisbane five-eighth Ezra Mam had the worst game of his fledgling NRL career as Melbourne monster Nelson Asofa-Solomona resembled Mal Meninga on the fringes.
In a tactical masterstroke, Asofa-Solomona was stationed out wide and he terrorised several Broncos, notably the 19-year-old Mam, who missed five tackles as Big Nelson destroyed Brisbane with 177 metres, eight tackle busts and two offloads.
Not even Nelson’s silly no-look flick pass, which gifted Broncos back-rower Kurt Capewell the easiest try of his career in the 12th minute, could take the gloss off a magical Melbourne masterclass.
Alarm bells are ringing for Brisbane.
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