POST GAME [Round 14, 2026] - Broncos vs Titans

[BroncsFan]

I think teams always show up against the broncos it's been happening for years. But we were off the pace in yardage in pretty much all of these games during this losing streak except last night. I generally thought last night titans had a blinder in defence and we probably should have won and were the better team

Theyve been playing pretty well in defence all year, but their attack has been woeful.

Letting them score 28 points is where the failure was.

I think intent across the board was generally pretty good, but individual players let the team down ahen they werent at the same standard as their team mates.. namely Bhunt and Arthars.

The overall inability to slow down their ruck in defence is what cost us the most this game.

 

[bert_lifts]

Unforgivable of Ezra. Just unforgivable.

Yeah I hate to blame 1 play/person (Because we shouldn't even be in that position in the first place). But it was so, so bad it's hard to ignore. Just super dumb.

Eh, probably didn't deserve it anyway. A narrow win over the tits like that is meaningless. Needed to smoke them like we did last year to show a corner has actually been turned. Not pip a Celler dweller in the final seconds.

 

[nopatience101]

Thought Piakura had his best game for the club last night, that's a positive.

He was hitting like a truck and he's got some ability close to the line too, thought he had a great game.

So he’s probably injured again.

 

[Broncones]

Theyve been playing pretty well in defence all year, but their attack has been woeful.

Letting them score 28 points is where the failure was.

I think intent across the board was generally pretty good, but individual players let the team down ahen they werent at the same standard as their team mates.. namely Bhunt and Arthars.

The overall inability to slow down their ruck in defence is what cost us the most this game.

Yeh definitely a few very soft tries let in

 

[nopatience101]

Yeah I hate to blame 1 play/person (Because we shouldn't even be in that position in the first place). But it was so, so bad it's hard to ignore. Just super dumb.

Eh, probably didn't deserve it anyway. A narrow win over the tits like that is meaningless. Needed to smoke them like we did last year to show a corner has actually been turned.

But if we are playing the blame game, hunt, haas, Walsh, all missed tackles that lead to soft tries. The worry is it was the experienced players letting us down, with the exception of Gos who is just garbage.

 

[Battler]

• Something is up with Reynolds and Walsh. It really does look like Reynolds blatantly freezes him out on attack a lot of the time, and Walsh was visibly frustrated by it. These are the same issues from last season where Walsh looked so much better without Reynolds
• That being said, Walsh's body language the entire game was terrible Not a good look for him, and I'm sure his teammates won't appreciate that behaviour. Visibly having a cry every time he didn't get the ball or something didn't go his way, and some of his defensive efforts were pretty poor. While it does look like he's carrying a niggle, he sure as hell shows a lot more effort with the ball than he does defending

It’s dumb from Arey. Someone like KP gets the ball whenever he calls for it at the knights. Brown, who has a great running game, has gone there on huge money and is just doing his role and letting KP be the star in attack. Madge needs to flick Arey if his ego is too big or he’s incapable of changing the way he plays to accommodate Walsh.

Who would have thought... as a kid supporting this glorious club, that these dark days would come

Honestly the post-Lockyer era has been a tough grind.

I always knew it was going to be tough but had some hope with that 2015-era team... To this day I think the 'Broncos' never recovered from that 2015 GF.

We had some awful, AWFUL periods after that and honestly bar a few epic wins, 2018-2022 my memory has effectively shut out the trauma...

Then 2023, Walsh just kills it... and then that GF again.

2024, back to normal

2025, Walsh happens to just kill it again.

2026... here we are.

I can only imagine the pain that tigers/dogs/dragons/eels supporters have been through... but surely we are only a rung above bar 2015/2023/2025 in the last 20 years.

Its a mental drain... cause if you love the Broncos, its been a tough tough 20 years.

Thats why last year was so special.

I don't think I posted for a long long time until last years drought breaker.

Anyway, what a ramble... it's just painful to see the Broncos like this... PARTICULARLY with the squad we have.

Walsh had 10 tackle busts last night. He’s still the same player, the side is just letting him down + he’s returning from a face fracture. We need to be like the Knights with KP and get him the ball when he wants it. Walsh will win more than 1 comp in his career, the bloke is still 23 years old- he will still be under 30 when Cleary, Hughes, Grant, kp, etc are all gone

It’s been rough for anyone not supporting riff. Storm “fans” have had a consistent top 4 side, but they’ve lost back to back gfs and are now cooked in the short and long term (belly retiring, their guns approaching their mid-late 30s). Rorters were insane 7 years ago and not really a threat since despite spending cap bending amounts on poaching players

 

[bert_lifts]

But if we are playing the blame game, hunt, haas, Walsh, all missed tackles that lead to soft tries. The worry is it was the experienced players letting us down, with the exception of Gos who is just garbage.

No I agree which is why I said I don't like to blame 1 play/person.

In terms of optics, Ezra's seems worse due to the timing, that's all. His brain fart literally lost the game for us in that moment. If he passes we win. But yes, the others were probably just as bad.

His poor form and lack of effort makes him easy to blame too. If he had been trying his guts out week in and out plus in form it's much easier to excuse.

 

[leish107]

I think the losses this season above been the result of a combination of factors.

The Bronx had a lot of players involved in the international games at the end of last season meaning that they had a limited preseason together. Previously, they were getting flogged in the Brisbane heat from November - February. As a result, their fitness isn't what is was last season. This is noticeable in their lazy defence; their I'll disciplined and therefore easily gassed from all the repeated six agains.

The injuries have also meant that they've struggled for consistency in their combinations.

As others have mentioned, Walshy is also out of form. Due to the amazing run he had at the end of last year, the standard he's set for himself (and which others expect from him) is incredibly high. He's showing that he can't put that together consistently. But the Bronx can't just expect him to dig them out of every hole - he needs help.

He also seems to have a lot going on outside of footy. He's running a golf tournament and is about to launch a clothing line. Whilst I don't expect players to be robots, I do wonder if all the outside distractions are taking a toll. Both Billy and Cam kept mentioning 'the little things' and professionalism when referencing why KP was picked ahead of Walshy for Origin. It seemed a little pointed.

 

[Wolfie]

The issue is those players don't emerge until they're 21-22. The Broncos aren't in a position to be that patient so they take a few big long shots in guys like Francis and Verhoeven and hope they can score some Taltys through reserve grade.

The issue lately is that for one reason or another they're striking out on those prospects. Guys like Mozer and Te Kura who ought to be NRL mainstays by now just haven't panned out.

But isnt that where we are falling down? We dont produce them so that they are emerging at that age, and now our system isnt producing much either way. Maybe i am being a bit harsh, i just feel we overlook players like that these days.

 

[Bucking Beads]

Reece Walsh has been so disappointing this year.

 

[BroncsFan]

But isnt that where we are falling down? We dont produce them so that they are emerging at that age, and now our system isnt producing much either way. Maybe i am being a bit harsh, i just feel we overlook players like that these days.

I just don't think a standalone NRL team is setup to allow those players to develop.

Each NRL team has 36 first grade contracts available and 17 of those guys HAVE to play NRL every week.

That leaves you with 19 spots to cover depth, injuries, suspensions, origin, etc.

It's hard to sacrifice some of those spots to guys that you know aren't NRL standard to allow them to mature into something... but if you're a development club like broncos that's what ends up happening.

BTK has had a Top 30 spot for like 3-4 years now?? and he's played 5 games... that's a long time having to keep a guy on Top 30 contracts just to get 5 games out of him.

Had Vlando not ruined the game completely this year, then all that waiting probably finally pays off and he's playing a fair bit of NRL this year... instead he's off on sabbatical to change careers completely.

Bryce feels like one of those toilers that you're speaking about and they've held onto him for a fair while now... but it ended up being that he just never grew into his body.

It seems like he's showing that he can play against men and that may mean he ends up a solid first grader, but to keep him we'll have to make a decision on whether to give him a Top 30 or Dev Deal spot and also hope that titans, dolphins or a Sydney team don't just throw him a contract either.

It would be nice if instead we could throw him $100k to keep playing with Burleigh for another year and if he keeps progressing bring him up to the NRL squad, but the NRL contract system isn't set up for that.

 

[Harry]

Feels like so many players were riding the high from last year and expected it to come easy and the purple patch from the finals to continue.

It didn't go that way, and right as it was time for the team to knuckle down and earn it the hard way.... injury hit across the board and we were on the tail end of some of the most ridiculous refereeing decisions and performances in recent memory.

Feels now like the team has just accepted its 'not their year' and the injuries and refereeing are a convenient scapegoat to not have to work hard to get things back on track.

Reynolds is a total non-factor nowadays, Hunt looks completely done, Walsh looks like he's running at maybe 60%, Mam has completely lost the plot, we have nothing from dummy half and no forward depth means we're losing the yardage battle week in week out.

Don't see it getting better this season unfortunately.

 

[Big Pete]

But isnt that where we are falling down? We dont produce them so that they are emerging at that age, and now our system isnt producing much either way. Maybe i am being a bit harsh, i just feel we overlook players like that these days.

Hard to say especially right now. It depends on how guys like Angus Hinchey, Mason Kira, Wil Sullivan etc. pan out. Hardly anyone from that '04 group has made their mark in the NRL.

You just get lean years in the juniors.

 

[broncos4life]

So why haven't we been able to develop / find another half decent second rower?

And look, if you are happy with the job our R&R team are doing, that's fine, I'm just giving my opinion. I think its been an issue for years but as you say, we won a premiership last year, so I get you not having the same view and that's fine.

I must admit I am really struggling to follow your point. I know that the team is playing bad at the moment but R&R is all about who you keep and who you let go. It’s one thing to say these players left and they are good players what are our idiots doing but that is neglecting the fact that had we kept those we would have lost many of the current squad. I could take your point if our team hadn’t done anything but they literally just one the premiership, so by that measure seems like we kept a fair amount of the good ones.

 

[Dazza 92]

Can we get rid of the six-again rule already? The amount of injuries across the league each game week is enormous, and yes I know its a contact sport but I just dont recognsie what Im watching on the field at times.

Much like the Storm earlier this year, and the Roosters last year, this "team" has forgotten what it takes to win games. It happens in professional sport.

A lot of comments about Reynolds non-existent partnership with his fullback. Its ironic to me, as at the start of the year we had either in the playing roster or coming in one of the best crop of halves in the NRL.

It was standard Storm recruitment logic - because it works.

Whats missing however is a clear and delinable hierachy. How to extract the best out of each of them in whatever circumstances we find ourselves in a game.

I'm not saying it is easy, but the club did the right thing in giving us depth in this area, it just hasn't worked out how to maximise them.

 

[Dazza 92]

And don't start me on hooker. I'm fine with Paix there as a toiler if our full forward pack is available and making metres.

For me, given the injuries, the eaisest way to compensate is you put in a hooker who can/will run. And because of that, places doubts in the markers, allowing even easier post contact metres for your remaining forwards.

Now, Madge might know this, but we have three hookers unavailable too.

Once they start coming back though, lets see if this changes. Without Haas next season, it is critical to get that hooker spot nailed down correctly, and by that, I mean Paix NOT starting there.

 

[Super Freak]

but we have three hookers unavailable too.

Maybe I’m missing something but the only hooker unavailable is Walters.

Mozer and Cam are back from their injuries and were available to be picked.

 

[phoenix]

Yeah one being bloody drop kicked ezra mann to Q cup where he belongs. He cost us that game with his idiotic decision of kicking the ball

NRL 2026: Ezra Mam’s final minute option costs Broncos, Cooper Cronk says Mam should have passed right, what happened, Broncos v Titans, news, reaction https://share.google/IuxjNmcYQZZgsF8wF