Broncos coach Michael Maguire fully expects Parramatta to try and exploit their apparent weakness under the high ball in Thursday night’s NRL Round 2 showdown at Suncorp Stadium. And the veteran Brisbane mentor admits the Eels would be “silly” not to after seeing Penrith adopt the tactic with great success in a ruthless opening round thrashing of the defending premiers.
Two of Penrith’s four tries came off the back of bombs from Nathan Cleary that were fumbled by Brisbane’s backline. It continued a worrying trend for the Broncos, who were also sloppy in that area in their World Club Challenge defeat to English champions, Hull.
Broncos coach Michael Maguire (L) is expecting fullback Reece Walsh (R) and his Brisbane back five to be peppered by high kicks against the Eels. Pic: Getty/AAP
The Eels possess two of the game’s best kicking halves in the form of Mitchell Moses and Jonah Pezet. And Parramatta coach Jason Ryles will almost certainly be instructing them to try and expose what has become a recent problem area for Brisbane.
Maguire says it will be up to Brisbane’s back five to provide better protection for one another under an expected high ball barrage from the Eels. It’s something the Broncos coach has been working on throughout the week at training and he has no doubt it’s a tactic Parramatta will use on Thursday night.
“They’d probably be silly not to,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “But we’ve got to make sure that we look after each other. We’ve looked very much at ourselves this week. We need to get back to what works for us.”
Parramatta halfback Mitchell Moses could look to exploit Brisbane’s problems under the high ball in their NRL Round 2 clash. Pic: Getty
(Brendon Thorne via Getty Images)Broncos desperate to tidy up errors after Round 1 loss
Their high-ball struggles have clearly been a theme at Broncos camp this week, with winger Josiah Karapani admitting it was an area they needed to tidy up. “I feel like other teams always love to chase after us, especially last tackle when there is a high ball,” he said. “They can come and get on top of you. Us as a back five will have a meeting and a chat about what we can do to improve so we can get those high balls.”
Handling errors in general have been top of the agenda this week, with Brisbane’s 61 per cent completion rate against Penrith the worst of any team in Round. “It’s pretty simple: Hang onto the ball,” Maguire said. “We just didn’t put ourselves in a position last week to put a bit of pressure on the opposition.”
The Broncos coach was also criticised for a late switch that saw Ben Hunt start at five-eighth and Ezra Mam demoted to the bench. It allowed the Panthers to get the jump on the defending premiers and race out to a decisive lead.
Brisbane lacked Mam’s energy and creative spark in attack and Maguire admits the move did not go as planned. In response, he’s shifted Hunt back to the bench and named Mam to start in the halves alongside skipper Adam Reynolds against Parramatta. But Maguire refused to confirm that would be his first-choice halves combination moving forward.
“It’s up to the players to be able to show that each week,” Brisbane’s coach said. “We’re on a journey to round two now. They’ve shown that they’re very capable. We’ve definitely shown that over time but this is a new season. What’s done is done, we’ve got to move forward to what’s ahead of us.”
with AAP