The Broncos were very good. Comfortably the second best performance any team's put up against us. Their star forwards played to their potential and Lodge played probably the best I've seen him play. Their halves were extremely good, giving To'o a pasting that only a few combos in the game would have the discipline to pull off. They lacked a bit of class and composure at the death but were otherwise the better team over the 80.
We were well down on energy too. I'm really disappointed this media bullshit seems to have stung them. The handshake thing gave me a chuckle, but honestly I would have preferred to see them launching themselves into the stands, rubbing it in the faces of mongs like Crawley and Rothfield. The handshake showed that the chatter had gotten into their heads. We showed weakness to the media and they'll be galvanised to keep slinging bullshit at us all year. We need to ignore it, especially as the games get more and more important.
There were plenty of problems tonight. Our back 3 were pretty poor. To'o looks as much a target for a bombing as Mansour ever did. Kenny didn't handle a big guy running at him very well. Our middle got rolled for the first time in forever. The chase on our attacking kicks was ordinary.
On the plus side, Cleary was sub zero under pressure. Luai had some nice touches. Our middle was dominated at times but never cracked. Our goal line defence was strong as well. Still plenty to like, but cracks in the armour that the rest of the league will be eyeing off hungrily.
