Broncos scramble to fix high ball errors ahead of Parramatta Eels showdown
The Broncos face a nightmare scenario as Mitchell Moses prepares his aerial bombardment against a back five that has made a whopping sixteen errors in two catastrophic losses.
The butterfingered Broncos are bracing for Parramatta’s big boot Mitchell Moses to launch a ‘bombs away’ barrage.
Brisbane’s back five have come under the microscope following an error-riddled effort in the Broncos’ 26-0 season-opening loss to Penrith last week.
Fullback Reece Walsh (three errors), centres Gehamat Shibasaki (two) and Kotoni Staggs (one) and winger Deine Mariner (two) came up with a combined eight errors in the Suncorp Stadium shocker.
It followed a poor outing in the World Club Challenge where the same back five, including winger Josiah Karapani, produced eight errors in the upset loss to Hull KR.
Broncos winger Deine Mariner bombs a catch. Picture: NRL Imagery
Eight of the nine tries the Broncos have conceded this year, against Hull and Penrith, have come on the back of failed kick defusals.
The Broncos have spent extra time practising their catching in the lead-up to Thursday night’s Suncorp showdown with the Eels, where Moses is expected to unleash a string of towering bombs.
“We’ve been practising that,” Karapani said.
“I feel like other teams always love to chase after us, especially last tackle when there is a high ball. They can come and get on top of you.
“Our back five will have a meeting and a chat about what we can do to improve so we can get those high balls.”
In his first NRL game since last year’s stunning grand final performance which earned the Clive Churchill Medal, Walsh had one of his worst nights in a Broncos jersey against the Panthers.
His bomb defusal was suspect and Walsh only managed seven runs for 44m as the Broncos came up with 16 errors in a dreadful round 1 effort.
Staggs said Brisbane’s lack of urgency was exposed and the Broncos had to be more energetic against the Eels.
“We’ve got make sure we’re in the right position,” he said.
“They were more hungry to get the ball than us. We’ll work on that.
“Everyone’s got a roll to play when the kick goes up. We’ve can’t stop moving our feet until we get the ball back.
“That’s a bit of a work-on for us, but it won’t be anything that we haven’t done before.
“There’ll be areas that we will have a look at and try to fix, but I don’t think that’s a problem.
“They were more hungry than us to get the ball back and that’s just how it went.”
Gehamat Shibasaki (left) had two errors. Pictures; NRL Images
The Eels stunned Brisbane 22-20 in the corresponding fixture last year when Moses returned from injury to orchestrate one of the upsets of the season.
Karapani said his respect for the Parramatta halfback changed that night and Brisbane was aware of his influence.
“I feel like I had more respect for Moses and his kicks,” he said.
“I feel like that was the key part in their game. We will come ready and be prepared for that.
“Something I want to try and have my focus on is his kicks and just being aware.
“I’ll speak to the back five to be aware because we know how important it is to come back from that part of the field and take our first carries.”
