Broncos front up to atone for disgrace

The Broncos could scarcely have been more impressive in front of the camera in the days since their demoralising loss to the Sydney Roosters.

Brisbane Broncos co-captain Brodie Croft has welcomed the pressure being applied by rising star Tom Dearden Picture: AAP

The Broncos could scarcely have been more impressive in front of the camera in the days since their demoralising loss to the Sydney Roosters.

Having avoided the media immediately after that embarrassing 59-0 defeat, a decision seemingly made by a club official in an attempt to shield the playing group, Brisbane players have spent the days since atoning for that lapse in judgment.

The time has now come to atone for their performance, something co-captains Patrick Carrigan and Brodie Croft acknowledged on Wednesday.

Carrigan and Croft have become poster boys for Brisbane’s apparent lack of experience, one held up as an example of the leadership shortage due to his age and the other due to the short time he has spent at the club.

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Carrigan, in particular, showed why coach Anthony Seibold was in such haste to promote him to the leadership group on Wednesday as he addressed the fallout from last week’s loss to the Roosters leading into Thursday night’s game against Manly at Central Coast Stadium.

“I will put my hand up personally,” Carrigan said.

“There are always ways we can get better. Last week was below par. I wasn’t happy with areas of my game individually.

“Leadership is something where I have a long way to go. I am looking to keep learning. Personally, looking back on last week, it is behind us now.

“The only way we can get better and move forward is to get a win on the board.

“You can do as much talking and apologising for the result, and whatever happened, but at the end of the day I have to own it and so does the team.

“The best we can do now is put together a performance and back-to-back performances.”

Asked why the players had failed to address the media immediately after the 59-point shellacking, Carrigan said: “I will put my hand up again — just the result and how I was feeling personally. I literally had a shower and left.

“A lot was said about us ducking and diving.

“That is not how I was raised. I don’t think that is certainly how Brodie was raised.

“If I have ever done anything wrong I have put my hand up and admitted to it.

“I think there was a breakdown in communication somewhere along the line.

“I think it was an oversight by the group. I take responsibility for that. In hindsight, it was the last thing I was thinking about – fronting the media.

“I was embarrassed by the performance.”

Seibold has rung the changes following that defeat, the most notable the shift of winger Corey Oates to the back row and the introduction of Papua New Guinea international Xavier Coates on the wing.

Oates hasn’t started in the forward pack for some time, although he finished the loss to the Roosters in the second row.

Seibold could have made more changes — he also promoted Matt Lodge and Joe Ofahengaue to the starting side — but opted to keep some of his powder dry.

Croft is among those coming off a poor performance and acknowledged he was under pressure from young half Thomas Dearden.

“He has been training really well,” Croft said.

“He certainly keeps me on my toes. That is the best thing at the professional level — the competition you have for positions.

“He keeps me honest and definitely I have to be doing my job, I have to do the best I can for the team. I need to be better with my defence this week.

“That has been the mindset all week. We will build our game off our defence.

“We can’t beat around the bush. It is going to come from hard work.”

Likewise, former captain Darius Boyd is scrambling to retain his place in first grade as he prepares for a daunting defensive assignment against Manly centre Moses Suli.

“He (Suli) is in pretty good form at the moment,” Carrigan said.

“It is good to see him happy and enjoying footy. Obviously Darbs will have a pretty big job on that edge. But we will have to help him out as well.

“It is a bit of a new combination out there and defensively he is a good centre If he prepares like he always does, he will well and truly handle what Moses throws at him.”