NRL 2020: ‘Horrible’ Broncos exposed by ‘soft’ tries in Rabbitohs loss

The Brisbane Broncos’ season from hell has continued to get worse after a pair of “soft” moments perfectly encapsulated the club’s year.

Yet another tough night for the Broncos.

If there was ever a match that would inspire something more from the Brisbane Broncos, it was the clash against the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

There’s no love lost between the coaches after the ugly swap two seasons ago that saw Wayne Bennett unceremoniously dumped from the Broncos and Anthony Seibold anointed as the Brisbane leader with a five-year contract.

Barbs have been fired in both directions ever since.

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While Bennett watched from home after his much publicised COVID-19 breach, his fill-in, Jason Demetriou, was also the man being groomed to take over the Broncos before Seibold entered.

But despite having everything to play for, the Broncos collapsed once again. A 28-10 loss on Friday night with the likes of David Fifita and Matt Lodge back in the side from injury didn’t help as Brisbane lost its 10th game from 11 starts since the season restarted in May.

Another big loss means the Broncos have now conceded 400 points in just round 13, the first time since the Knights in 2016 the ugly mark has been reached this early in the season.

NRL Live Scores: Round 13 match centres

It’s another unflattering performance from the Broncos.

But worse than the loss was the way the side went down with two particularly soft tries once again exposing the side’s soft underbelly — a trait that has the Broncos only just staving off last position on the NRL ladder.

Fox League’s Michael Ennis said “some of the tries they have conceded have been horrible, horrible”.

“Certainly in the last few weeks, there has been a lot more steel and effort in a lot of areas in their game but it just seems like any time the opposition gets down on their line, that they just leak points and they leak points too easily,” he added.

Post-game, league great Greg Alexander was visibly frustrated by the Broncos’ performance, saying the side could go winless for the remainder of the season with how they’re playing.

“The Brisbane Broncos, I honestly don’t know where they go,” Alexander said on Fox League. “David Fifita will be better for the run and you would hope he would involve himself more as the season goes on, but the season is almost done.

“I thought Brisbane were a chance tonight because the Rabbitohs haven’t been great. I just thought there’s a bit more confidence with some of their key players back on the field, but they’re just not good enough. They’re just not good enough.

“When it got to 20-10 and Fifita scored, but they don’t know how to take the game to a place where it puts them in striking distance. What that means for Anthony Seibold over the next seven weeks — and the way they’re playing, they may end the season with just one win since the resumption.”

The losses aren’t getting any easier for the Broncos.

In his press conference, Seibold was reluctant to talk about the refereeing but did admit he and his staff were “bewildered” by some calls with an 11-4 penalty count against Brisbane, but refused to use it as an excuse.

During the game, two moments once again showed how low in confidence the Broncos are.

Heading into halftime, Souths’ Mark Nicholls scored as he took a standard hit-up off a penalty tap 10m out from the line, beating four Broncos by simply running in a straight line with five minutes left in the half.

“Geez that’s an ordinary miss from Jake Turpin and they’re straight through the engine room, straight through Lodge and Haas,” Ennis said. “Nicholls won’t score an easier try. That’s unbelievable. That was a really simple one.”

Fellow Fox League expert Braith Anasta said it showed a lack of mental strength that Brisbane have lacked all season.

“They’re already looking for answers,” Anasta said. “It’s a lack of mental fortitude and resilience that we saw there with that soft try when Turpin missed. It was ordinary and that really concerns me.

“It was a soft attempt. This was soft, off a set-piece that close to the line to come up with a try straight through the middle, that’s not a good sign.”

Souths Mark Nicholls pulled the Broncos’ pants down.

The Channel 9 commentators were just as stunned.

“He‘s pointed to the spot – oh dear that’s soft,” Ray Warren said.

Phil Gould added: “You‘re in the shadows of halftime, eight points down in a game that means a lot to you. The big fella just strolls through the meat of the Broncos forward pack.

“They‘re just standing around looking at each other, he’s barged through them.

“He just took it up for a settler and came up with a four-pointer. There‘s not one player that put his shoulder into his work there.”

At 22-10 with 14 minutes remaining, it was Tom Burgess who sealed the win with Fox commentator Warren Smith saying “he just walked through the defence”.

He also called it “very, very soft defence”.