Kimlo
International Captain
Senior Staff
- Apr 26, 2008
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by Nick Campton
Posted 10h ago
Brisbane looked like a different breed in their win over Parramatta. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)
Nobody likes it when players and coaches spout cliches after matches. They make the eyes glaze over and forces the mind to wander. We've all heard them all so many times they're easy to tick off in your mind. It was a real team effort. We stuck to our systems. We're taking it one week at a time.
Brisbane coach Kevin Walters is not, and never has been, a man for cliches — he laughs too loud and feels too much to hide behind those same old platitudes. But his team and their 36-14 win over Parramatta on Thursday night is living proof of the value of living those old adages about working hard, playing for each other and defence winning premierships. That's what Walters, drenched in beer and Powerade, highlighted after one of Brisbane's most impressive performances of the year.
"We’re coming from a long way back, so we’d be fools to get too far in front of where we actually are," Walters said. "We're a long way from where we've been, but we're not comfortable. Certainly I'm not, and I know Adam (Reynolds) and the rest of the group aren't comfortable just going on this little journey. "We need to make something of it.
"They’re working hard and have great respect for each other. "There’s a great unity amongst them, and while there’s a lot of strategy that goes into defence at the end of the day if you want to stop the other team from scoring you find a way. "That’s what good teams have been doing for 100 years, and we want to get into that mould ourselves, just to work hard for each other and do our best."
This victory, which keeps Brisbane in the top four hunt, was a study in cliches coming true. That's not an insult, because the secret of rugby league cliches is they work if you really mean them. In this win, Brisbane really meant them. The only thing they worry about is exactly what's in front of them, they are really taking this one step at a time. Brisbane teams of the past would have been overwhelmed by the task in front of them if Parramatta scored first on a cold, wet night in Sydney's west after a listless opener and a couple of errors by the Broncos.
But these guys don't think that way. They have found the joy in the struggle. These new Broncos have won enough games this season to know what they have to do to get there, so that's what they did. They upped their physicality in the middle on the back of brutal performances from Payne Haas and Pat Carrigan, while Carrigan and Reynolds' passing ensured they kept the kind of width to their attack which allowed the creation of one-on-one match ups all over the park.
And they did stick to their systems, and they did execute, and because they did all the small, boring things right they ended up getting the big, fancy win. There was some luck involved, like Corey Oates first try which came from a double-rebound kick from Brenko Lee, or Adam Reynolds score when Clint Gutherson had the ball jolted free, but those are the tries you score when you really commit to going harder than the other side.
And this wasn't perfect, not by any means — a team that really lives the cliché lifestyle would have put the Eels to the sword after leading 30-10 minutes after halftime. But Brisbane are still learning to play this way, to really believe all the old adages we know so well. None of this happens overnight, because the best way to become great is to practice being great every single week. It's like anything else in life – the more you do it, the better you get at it.
In contrast, this is something the Eels struggle to grasp, no matter how many times they sit the lesson. We know how good Parramatta can be. We saw it happen right in front of us when they outlasted Melbourne and took down Penrith earlier in the year, and given they have those heads above their mantlepiece and because they have so much talent it can be easy to imagine a finals series where the Eels feature prominently.
But we are not there yet. There is still some way to go. There is still a path to be walked, one where one foot must be put in front of the other over and over and over again, and if a team is too focused on the end of the road they'll put their feet in the wrong place trying to get there. That's what happened on Thursday night. The Eels had enough ball to win it, and they played some nice football when their left edge could link together. But the killer touch was missing, the attention to detail wasn't there, and it cost them as it so often does.
Parramatta may well master what Brisbane are beginning to discover, but they are not there yet. With a horror run between now and the finals, starting with next week's clash against a Penrith side who do not forgive, do not forget and will have twisted thoughts in their heads that put them in a vendetta kind of mood, Parramatta better try and get their act together quickly. For Brisbane, the way forward is much brighter. There's no secret to what they have to do to continue going forward and claim that top four spot and turn this season from a nice surprise into something more.
They already know what they need to do, because they've been doing it for a while now. They can see the prize of a return to the finals, not as cannon fodder but as a dangerous, well-rounded, intense, relentless side who bow to nobody and will take on anybody. They just need to keep marching towards that goal, and the only way to really get there is to go one step at a time.
by Nick Campton
Posted 10h ago
Brisbane looked like a different breed in their win over Parramatta. (Getty Images: Cameron Spencer)
Nobody likes it when players and coaches spout cliches after matches. They make the eyes glaze over and forces the mind to wander. We've all heard them all so many times they're easy to tick off in your mind. It was a real team effort. We stuck to our systems. We're taking it one week at a time.
Brisbane coach Kevin Walters is not, and never has been, a man for cliches — he laughs too loud and feels too much to hide behind those same old platitudes. But his team and their 36-14 win over Parramatta on Thursday night is living proof of the value of living those old adages about working hard, playing for each other and defence winning premierships. That's what Walters, drenched in beer and Powerade, highlighted after one of Brisbane's most impressive performances of the year.
"We’re coming from a long way back, so we’d be fools to get too far in front of where we actually are," Walters said. "We're a long way from where we've been, but we're not comfortable. Certainly I'm not, and I know Adam (Reynolds) and the rest of the group aren't comfortable just going on this little journey. "We need to make something of it.
"They’re working hard and have great respect for each other. "There’s a great unity amongst them, and while there’s a lot of strategy that goes into defence at the end of the day if you want to stop the other team from scoring you find a way. "That’s what good teams have been doing for 100 years, and we want to get into that mould ourselves, just to work hard for each other and do our best."
This victory, which keeps Brisbane in the top four hunt, was a study in cliches coming true. That's not an insult, because the secret of rugby league cliches is they work if you really mean them. In this win, Brisbane really meant them. The only thing they worry about is exactly what's in front of them, they are really taking this one step at a time. Brisbane teams of the past would have been overwhelmed by the task in front of them if Parramatta scored first on a cold, wet night in Sydney's west after a listless opener and a couple of errors by the Broncos.
But these guys don't think that way. They have found the joy in the struggle. These new Broncos have won enough games this season to know what they have to do to get there, so that's what they did. They upped their physicality in the middle on the back of brutal performances from Payne Haas and Pat Carrigan, while Carrigan and Reynolds' passing ensured they kept the kind of width to their attack which allowed the creation of one-on-one match ups all over the park.
And they did stick to their systems, and they did execute, and because they did all the small, boring things right they ended up getting the big, fancy win. There was some luck involved, like Corey Oates first try which came from a double-rebound kick from Brenko Lee, or Adam Reynolds score when Clint Gutherson had the ball jolted free, but those are the tries you score when you really commit to going harder than the other side.
And this wasn't perfect, not by any means — a team that really lives the cliché lifestyle would have put the Eels to the sword after leading 30-10 minutes after halftime. But Brisbane are still learning to play this way, to really believe all the old adages we know so well. None of this happens overnight, because the best way to become great is to practice being great every single week. It's like anything else in life – the more you do it, the better you get at it.
In contrast, this is something the Eels struggle to grasp, no matter how many times they sit the lesson. We know how good Parramatta can be. We saw it happen right in front of us when they outlasted Melbourne and took down Penrith earlier in the year, and given they have those heads above their mantlepiece and because they have so much talent it can be easy to imagine a finals series where the Eels feature prominently.
But we are not there yet. There is still some way to go. There is still a path to be walked, one where one foot must be put in front of the other over and over and over again, and if a team is too focused on the end of the road they'll put their feet in the wrong place trying to get there. That's what happened on Thursday night. The Eels had enough ball to win it, and they played some nice football when their left edge could link together. But the killer touch was missing, the attention to detail wasn't there, and it cost them as it so often does.
Parramatta may well master what Brisbane are beginning to discover, but they are not there yet. With a horror run between now and the finals, starting with next week's clash against a Penrith side who do not forgive, do not forget and will have twisted thoughts in their heads that put them in a vendetta kind of mood, Parramatta better try and get their act together quickly. For Brisbane, the way forward is much brighter. There's no secret to what they have to do to continue going forward and claim that top four spot and turn this season from a nice surprise into something more.
They already know what they need to do, because they've been doing it for a while now. They can see the prize of a return to the finals, not as cannon fodder but as a dangerous, well-rounded, intense, relentless side who bow to nobody and will take on anybody. They just need to keep marching towards that goal, and the only way to really get there is to go one step at a time.
