I thought one of the most telling moments in the game was during the opening exchanges. Reynolds held the ball up, beat a defender before jabbing a kick behind the line in a Cowboys corner. It really should have been a goal line but the chase wasn't equal to Drinkwater's effort to get the ball out. Then on the next play instead of bending the Cowboys back, they allowed Taulagi to get an offload away and suddenly Feldt is 25m up-field. It was the one instance where they had the Cowboys on the back-foot and they surrendered it so meekly.
In general I thought the Broncos were outplayed but the goal-line defence was great in the first half. Only blemish was kick diffusal but even then Walters came up with one of the try-savers of the season to kick it away to Hetherington to force it.
Always thought first try scorer in the second half would be important but again the Broncos gave it away too meekly. Not surprised at all it was Kyle Feldt who earned that penalty. He's developed that Justin Hodges knack of being a real pest with his carries. He got under the skin of Billy, Billy came in with the forearm, Feldt returned in kind and it went against Billy.
No doubt the loss of Martin took it's toll. The defence was at sixes and sevens through out that second half. Not to ruffle any feathers because there's plenty of blame to go around, but Hetherington didn't have his best game tonight. He's typically so good because he leads the line-speed but he failed to make an impact with his defence, the Cowboys enjoyed running at him tonight and he did come up with that costly turn-over. A try at that point in the game would have given the Broncos a sniff.
Instead at 22-8, it was virtually game. Sure, Brisbane jagged a few back, it didn't end up totally embarrassing but nobody should be celebrating a 40 point loss either.
Definitely get the sense the team is running out of puff. I'm not sure if this unit is more than that 7 game winning streak to be honest. They clearly missed having Farnworth out there, but he's as good as gone for the rest of the year. They really need Piakura, Willison, Mariner, Niu etc. to spark them.
It could just be a case that the Broncos simply aren't as good as Melbourne or North Queensland in 2022 but to concede 32 and 40 points in respective weeks is a tough hill to overcome.
Only on BHQ will you find a Turpin discourse after this game. I'll be honest, I wanted Walters off after 30. Then I watched Turpin's final 20 and understood why Kevie was so hesitant. It doesn't reflect well on his coaching that Turpin had absolutely zero confidence on the field but still. Sometimes perception is just reality and while it's difficult to blame him for the Carrigan and Palasia knock ons, sometimes timing and organisation can just throw things off.
Still, if we were doing our 3,2,1 scapegoats Billy and Reyno are leading the charge.
