‘Can’t win the grand final’: NRL world brutally roasts Broncos annihilation

NRL fans have shown their ruthless side once again, mocking the Broncos mercilessly as the 2023 runners up’s season came to a horrific end.

The Broncos didn’t turn up. Picture: NRL Imagery

Brisbane season from hell has come to an unceremonious end as the minor premier Melbourne Storm took a victory lap on the Broncos’ remains.

In a performance that brought to mind the Simpson’s meme “Stop, he’s already dead”, the Storm finally put the Broncos out of their misery in a 50-12 annihilation.

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After their season was officially ended last week in a 40-6 loss to the Dolphins, the Broncos were playing for nothing but pride in round 27 — and they hardly even did that as they were wiped off the field easily by the Storm.

It was a long way from the 2023 season when the Broncos were 18 minutes from a premiership until Nathan Cleary went God-mode to snatch the victory.

In round 11, the club was sitting pretty in fifth on the ladder with a 7-4 record.

Since then, the Broncos have won three and lost 10 including seven straight in the middle of the season, heaping pressure on coach Kevin Walters.

Earlier in the week on Fox League’s NRL 360, News Corp’s Paul Crawley suggested “The last thing (Walters needed) with all the noise and talk going on around him at the moment is to go out and get lapped by the Storm in the final round.”

His colleague David Riccio then questioned whether the Broncos should look to cut Walters loose or risk the 2025 season being a “complete write off”.

For the sake of Walters’ job, you can only hope the Broncos weren’t looking to make a statement.

The Storm run in another try. Photo by Russell Freeman/Getty Images

While the Storm put the Broncos to the sword, it was the fans who were truly ruthless, tripping over each other to throw one of the NRL’s most well-known stats — that no team who has conceded 50 points in a match during the season has ever won the premiership — right into the Broncos’ faces.

One fan wrote: “50 — the Broncos officially cannot win the comp.”

Another said: “That’s 50 — Broncos can’t win the premiership now.”

The Tanked Yank X account posted: “Sorry to remind you, Broncos fans, but history shows you can no longer win the premiership after conceding 50 points in a match.”

Another wrote: “With Melbourne bringing up 50 tonight, you can officially rule out the Broncos from winning the premiership in 2024.”

Another added: “Bad news Broncos fans, no team has ever won the comp in a season they’ve conceded 50.”

In fact, there were many, many more.

Another fan said: “All you people posting the same ‘Broncos got 50 put on them so they can’t win the comp’ s**t probably think it’s really funny to rub it in … And you’re right, keep it up.”

The AAP’s Scott Bailey, who regularly trots the stat out when a team passes the half-century, instead commented that the “Broncos the fifth team with a line put through them in 2024.”

Broncos the fifth team with a line put through them in 2024. #NRLBroncosStormpic.twitter.com/57wmXcqf8g

— Scott Bailey (@ScottBaileyAAP) September 5, 2024

It was as humiliating as it gets. Photo by Russell Freeman/Getty Images

Before the match, Walters called for his side to show some pride in their jerseys.

There was very little pride on show as the Broncos were clearly already on holidays in their heads as they conceded nine tries to two.

“I’m extremely disappointed, it’s not acceptable,” Walters said.

“Some of the tries we let in aren’t anywhere near NRL standard, not even in the Queensland Cup.”

Brisbane missed 46 tackles and conceded 13 line breaks.

But Walters isn’t giving up, saying the Broncos have the pieces they need to turn the situation around.

“We have enough talent here,” he said. “We had $4 million sitting on the sidelines tonight.

“Defence is where we need to get better and that will be our first port of call. We need to be better as a group and a club.

“We’ll get our review started on Monday.”

On the other side, the result sealed the 400th win of Storm coach Craig Bellamy’s career as the Storm ensured the side was at peak condition for the finals series ahead.