Sherwin breaks Bronco hearts

[el magic]

Sherwin breaks Bronco hearts

BULLDOGS halfback Brent Sherwin turned the knife on Brisbane's NRL finals ambitions with a field goal to lead his side to a 25-24 victory at Suncorp Stadium.

Slowly but surely and certainly not through a lack of will or effort, Brisbane's hopes of defending its title are slipping away, with Wayne Bennett's side likely to find itself sitting outside the top eight at the end of this round.

It was another case of so close but yet so far for the defending premier, with a 33-metre field goal from Brent Sherwin sealing the game for the Bulldogs.

It left the Broncos facing the prospect of missing finals for the first time since 1991.

Bulldogs fullback Luke Patten was outstanding, with halves Ben Roberts and Sherwin adding the touches of attacking class Brisbane lacked with so many key members of its backline missing through injury.

There was another added to the casualty ward, with winger Craig Frawley forced from the field in the opening quarter with a hamstring strain that is likely to force him out of Brisbane's remaining minor premiership matches, against Canberra and Parramatta.

"The only thing that is hurting this football club is the number of changes we are making every week," Brisbane coach Wayne Bennett said.

"It was a killer for us having to make that change after a minute. I didn't have any backs on the bench because we have none left at the club.

"Losing Frawley after a minute, Carroll has to go back out to the centres, Lacey who is our back up hooker has to go to five-eighth and it just multiplies things for the rest of the guys."

While Greg Eastwood is a chance of returning next weekend, Test fullback Karmichael Hunt is not considered any hope of recovering from a serious hamstring strain in time for the match.

Bennett was also concerned Bulldogs hooker Corey Hughes was placed on report early in the first half for a high shot on winger Steve Michaels that was initially missed by referee Steve Clarke and his touch judges.

"The sad part is you're sitting there, the fans are sitting there. Everybody saw it was a head-high except for the linesman. They fascinate me. He got whacked in the chops and everybody else saw it. They don't have a lot to do you know," Bennett said.

"A fan asked me the other day why we have them - it was hard to explain it to them."

His counterpart Steve Folkes was surprisingly subdued considering his team hadn't beaten the Broncos in their past four contests. "The speed of our line was crap and we really struggled. We were off the pace from the very beginning. We were certainly way short of where we were last week (against Canberra)," Folkes said.

The giant Brisbane forward pack rolled up its sleeves and took it to the opposition in both attack and defence, with Sam Thaiday, Petero Civoniceva and Brad Thorn prominent in the early exchanges.

The teams went into the half-time break deadlocked at 12-12 but a penalty goal to hard-working backrower Corey Parker four minutes after half-time put the home side back in front.

The Broncos extended their lead further at the 50 minute mark when much-maligned halfback Shane Perry slid past Test backrower and Bulldogs skipper Andrew Ryan to score just his second four-pointer for the year.

Down by a converted try, the Bulldogs lifted a cog, with prop Chris Armit laying a wonderful foundation for halves Sherwin and Roberts, who were beginning to poke holes in the hard-hitting but tiring Brisbane line.

Their prodding and probing finally paid off with a sensational individual effort by Roberts in the 59th minute and a further four-pointer to Patten six minutes later giving the Bulldogs the lead for the first time in the match.

The lead could have been even greater had it not been for some outstanding goal line defence from the Broncos, with a gut-busting effort by Thorn on former Test centre Willie Tonga inspirational.

Not to be denied, the home side levelled the scores again with nine minutes to play through Taylor, who won the race for a speculative 30m grubber from rookie three-quarter Nick Emmett, with Parker's conversion locking the two teams together at 24-24 before Sherwin slotted his field goal.

Source: www.foxsports.com.au/league