Brisbane Broncos humiliated in record loss to Sydney Roosters
Brisbane crashed to their worst loss in club history after being routed 59-0 by Sydney Roosters at Suncorp Stadium.
This wasn’t an NRL contest. This was men belting boys.
Injury-ravaged Brisbane slumped to the worst loss in their 32-year history as the red-hot Roosters spanked the Baby Broncos 59-0 in a stunning massacre at Suncorp Stadium.
The 10-try carve-up also represented the first time Brisbane have been held scoreless at Suncorp Stadium, leaving the battered Broncos in tatters ahead of Thursday night’s road trip to face Manly in Gosford.
This serving of ineptitude eclipsed the Broncos’ 58-0 finals horror show against the Eels last September, which triggered an internal player review by coach Anthony Seibold.
The Broncos went into the clash without injured Alex Glenn, Jack Bird and David Fifita, and suspended Tevita Pangai Jr and Kotoni Staggs, but not even Allan Langer would have saved them from the type of defeat that spotlights a club’s culture.
The Broncos board should be asking questions of this debacle and how the NRL’s richest club can serve up such a pathetic standard of football.
Injuries alone can be no excuse for a second consecutive implosion after last week’s 34-6 loss to the Eels. In the space of seven days, the Broncos have conceded 93 points, leaked 15 tries and missed 54 tackles.
Not a single Brisbane forward ran for 100 metres as Roosters bench prop Lindsay Collins, an unwanted Bronco, rubbed salt into the wounds with a try and 240 metres in a rampaging display. It included a try where he strolled over like he was walking down Brisbane’s Queen St Mall.
There was no heart. No energy. No commitment. No cohesion. No line speed. No apparent spirit and simply no constructive ideas as the Broncos capitulated against the back-to-back premiers, who hummed along like a Rolls Royce.
The Roosters were slick. Brisbane were shambolic.
“They have no resolve, they had nothing tonight,” NRL great Paul Gallen said of Brisbane on the Nine Network.
The scary thing is that Roosters sensation James Tedesco (illness) was a late scratching. If the NRL’s No 1 player appeared, the Roosters would have won by 70.
Even allowing for Brisbane’s injury toll, this performance was unacceptable for a glamour club like the Broncos. Club founder Paul ‘Porky’ Morgan would be turning in his grave.
The Broncos were so lifeless in the first half their troops should have had temperature checks at halftime.
Some of the Roosters’ five first-half tries were so soft it looked like the premiers were cantering through a training run. The most emphatic evidence came in the 10th minute, when Broncos veteran Darius Boyd was horribly caught out rushing up in defence, allowing Joseph Manu to score in the corner untouched.
Worse was to come for the Broncos. When Luke Keary opened the second-half scoring in the 43rd minute, backing up an Isaac Liu break, it prompted rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns to label the Broncos as “soft”.
“You never want to use this word but that’s soft. That’s as soft as it gets,” Johns said.
Fellow Nine commentator Paul Vautin doubled down: “Pathetic, pathetic is what I’m saying. That’s awful,” he said.
Seibold denied his team is mentally soft as he took full responsibility for the loss.
“I take responsibility,” Seibold said. “I put out a young side, it was the best side we could come up with in the circumstances with injuries.
“I don’t think we are mentally weak, but there’s some big lessons.
“We are trying to build something sustainable. I can’t offer any excuses, we picked the best side we have available, I feel for our members and supporters, the two times we have been towelled up (in the past two weeks), it’s been men against boys.
“We have $4 million of guys on the sideline, we have a young team and this is part of their development, but I felt as though we were bullied the last two weeks.”
Regardless of the opposition, the Broncos will not compete for the top eight if they continue to disrespect possession. Their first-half completion rate was 47 per cent.
While he has a depleted squad, coach Seibold has to somehow raise the spirit of his troops to keep their finals ambitions on track.
Boyd’s defence at left centre was woeful and halfback Brodie Croft could be dropped in favour of Tom Dearden. But the real problem is Brisbane’s inexperienced pack – and a side which is simply too young to compete with the big boys.
For the Roosters, Brett Morris comfortably filled the shoes left by Tedesco at fullback, defying his 33 years to set up three tries and combine with his brother Josh as the visitors ran amok from the outset.
They showed no mercy to a Brisbane outfit forced to blood two debutants – Cory Paix and Tesi Niu – after hooker Jake Turpin became their latest casualty. Turpin is expected to be sidelined for at least a month after being ruled out with a leg fracture.
The result dampened the news that Brisbane had signed forward Ben Te’o for the remainder of the season. The former rugby international said he joined the club to win a premiership, but such an outcome seemed a long way off on Thursday night.
THE COURIER-MAIL
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