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The Broncos are battling an injury crisis that has gutted their middle forwards and their spine but Andrew Johns has identified another issue that will make it difficult for them to win against the odds on Friday night.
Brisbane will host a Bulldogs side that was “humiliated” against the Eels in round seven and a competition-wide trend strongly suggests that will lead to a significant bounce back at Suncorp Stadium.
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“Bulldogs, Bulldogs, wow, what happened against Parramatta?” Brad Fittler asked on Wide World of Sports’ Freddy and the Eighth’s Tips.
Viliame Kikau warms up before the Bulldogs’ poor performance against the Eels. Getty
The Dogs lost 38-20 to a Parramatta team that had been struggling with an injury crisis of its own and had been in diabolical form.
A week after knocking off premiership favourites Penrith, Canterbury put in their worst performance of the season.
“They got beaten in the effort areas,” Johns said. “Normally they never get beaten in that area, so they got a kick up the backside, humiliated last week.
“We’ve seen teams the last two weeks who have been humiliated – the Dolphins by Manly (in round five), then the Eels two weeks ago got flogged by the Titans and then came out and they made a statement.”
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The Dolphins had a bye after copping a thrashing from the Sea Eagles, then gave arguably their best performance of the season to push the Panthers to golden point in Darwin. Parramatta, meanwhile, were dismal in a 52-10 home loss to the Gold Coast before a tough and disciplined performance to upset the Bulldogs.
There have been several other recent examples of teams being flogged one week then turning the corner with a more committed display the next.
Johns said that factor, combined with the Broncos’ extraordinary casualty ward – Sam Thaiday this week picked a Brisbane 13 that he believes would beat the available line-up – would suck the air out of Brisbane’s balloon.
“Broncos missing their middles – Payne Haas, (Pat) Carrigan, and also Corey Jensen aren’t there. Missing Reece (Walsh) at the back. For mine Dogs win,” Johns concluded.
All of Nine’s expert tipsters apart from Fittler have sided with Johns. Fittler said the Broncos’ incredible defensive performance against the Tigers made him confident they could again win against the odds at home.
“I couldn’t believe, their defence was so good and then they had three or four opportunities to score tries and they just did it, when they needed it they came up with points,” Fittler said.
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