Brisbane Broncos haunted by ghosts of contracts past, present and future in NRL loss to Dragons

The Brisbane Broncos have moved from abject to bizarrely inconsistent over the past two months.

They’re one of only two teams to get within single digits of the Panthers this season, bounced back from going 22-0 down in 22 minutes against the Titans, and beat the Roosters 34-16.

They also had 50, 46 and 40 points put on them in that time, with their latest loss to St George Illawarra marking the most points they’ve conceded since round 16 last year. But even within last night’s 52-24 loss, there were massive inconsistencies.

Leading 18-12 after half an hour, the Broncos were outscored 34-6 for the rest of the game, including an unforgivable error by fullback Jamayne Isaako that allowed opposite number Matt Dufty to score seven seconds before the break and give the Dragons a lead heading into the second 40 minutes.

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Dufty’s try was the second of six straight in the game, which saw the Broncos haunted by the ghosts of players past, present and future.

Past

Ex-Broncos under-20s and NRL coach Anthony Griffin has got the band back together at Kogarah, and it was remarkable to watch how his Dragons demolished Brisbane, with just about every play having a faint maroon and gold tinge to it.

Even with Josh McGuire out, the Dragons still trotted out five former Broncos on Thursday and almost all of them had a moment in the sun.

Ben Hunt set up the last try of the night with some individual brilliance and had two line breaks, Corey Norman kicked for a try on the stroke of half-time, Jack Bird scored after what Fox commentator Andrew Voss described as “three torturous years in Brisbane”, Gerard Beale touched down after coming out of retirement for Griffin, and Andrew McCullough was typically solid at dummy half.

The irony of a former Broncos coach leading five former Broncos players to a 28-point win over the Broncos is simply too sweet to ignore.

Present

There was justification for almost all the players the Broncos let go, but it’s their handling of their current crop that raises eyebrows.

Look at the oft-focused-on five-eighth/halfback combination.

Albert Kelly and Tyson Gamble have brought an edge to the Broncos in recent weeks, but it’s taken far too long to get here.

Since round 11 last year, the Broncos have debuted a new halves pairing eight times in 23 games, changed halves 13 times in that stretch, and the longest run for any pair was three straight games.

Brodie Croft is out of favour after some underwhelming performances, Tom Dearden is on his way to the Cowboys now, and it seems Brisbane has finally decided to stop putting good money after bad with Anthony Milford, who, still only 26 years old, might just need a clean break and a fresh start.

Meanwhile, Brisbane native Sam Walker is living up to the hype with the Roosters, and fellow 18-year-old Reece Walsh is shining for the Warriors after the Broncos lost him for nothing early in the season.

Gamble has played five of the past six weeks, only missing the last round through suspension, and the 24-year-old’s impact was immediate when he was given his first start at seven in round eight against the Titans.

When he started shouting, celebrating, pumping up his teammates and getting in the face of the opposition, it was a reminder of how rare that has been for the Broncos. Sure, he carries on like a goose at times, but on a team that has struggled to find a voice for a season and a half, Gamble’s seems loud enough to almost make up the difference.

Kelly, meanwhile, made his first-grade debut more than a decade ago, and shed a bucketload of weight as he tried to break back into NRL for the first time since 2014.

Like Gamble, once finally given the chance, in round 11, he immediately showed off top-level running, passing and short kicking that Brisbane has been lacking.

On Thursday he exploited poor positioning by Dragons fullback Matt Dufty for the first try of the night, before laying on a pair of tries for TC Robati.

Why did it take the football department and coaching staff so long to identify what this team needed and who could deliver it? That’s something only they can answer, but now is the time to give the Kelly-Gamble odd couple a fighting chance.

Future

Securing halfback Adam Reynolds on a three-season deal earlier this year was supposed to reinvigorate Brisbane’s anaemic signing record.

Reynolds is the sort of veteran representative presence that people want to play with, or so went the narrative.

Then Nicho Hynes chose Cronulla over Brisbane.

A young, versatile fullback/five-eighth with skill, athleticism, a dynamite apprenticeship in Melbourne and room to grow with the right mentor seems the perfect fit for a rebuilding team with more spinal issues than Batman after a bout with Bane, but he decided to move closer to home rather than take a chance on the Broncos.

Dufty seemed an obvious second choice and was once rumoured to be in Brisbane’s sights. Coming off contract at season’s end and unwanted by the Dragons, he is the sort of X-factor fullback who can create something out of nothing, which you badly need when your structure doesn’t often manufacture those scoring opportunities.

As we said earlier, his defensive positional play leaves a bit to be desired, but it’s hard to know how much of that is him and how much is a product of the system he’s playing in (ie is he being told to defend in the line without being given the freedom to roam at the back?).

Regardless, the Broncos reportedly aren’t that interested in him anymore, so naturally, as Hynes did last week, Dufty tore them to pieces on Thursday night with a stat line so good that it looks fake — two tries, five try assists, four line-break assists and a line break.

One of those tries right on the stroke of half-time saw him exploit Isaako’s brainfade, highlighting the fact that while Dufty isn’t the complete package, Isaako still has a long way to go on that front too.

Putting it simply, top-class fullbacks don’t come along very often. If the Broncos think they have one in Isaako, they should invest in him and help him grow into that sort of sought-after custodian, but if not, they may have to take a chance on someone like Dufty, provided they don’t have to pay overs.

Unfortunately for Brisbane, the margin for error is slim, and they have to start pulling the right reins on the right Broncos from this moment on.