Join now and get your first month for just $1.<\/a><\/p>\nThe Broncos led 12-0 after 10 minutes, but the Eels scored three tries in five minutes to lead 22-20 at halftime. <\/p>\n
The see-sawing contest continued in the second half as both teams conceded tries with leaky defence. <\/p>\n
Parramatta ultimately scored eight tries to claim the upset victory and leave the Broncos reeling with a 0-2 record to start the season. <\/p>\n
To make matters worse, veteran halfback Adam Reynolds limped off the field in the dying stages, clutching his ribs after a tackle from Kitione Kautoga.<\/p>\n
Reynolds was fairly coy when asked how he pulled up and whether he would be fit to play next week.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s alright. A little bit sore. But I put some ice on it,\u201d he said, adding he would check in with Brisbane\u2019s medical staff on the weekend and \u201cgo from there\u201d.<\/p>\n
Reece Walsh scored two tries and had flashes of brilliance, but he also finished the game in pain when he clutched at his knee after jumping for a high ball. <\/p>\n
Eels young gun Jonah Pezet, who is coincidentally joining the Broncos next season, sealed the victory with a try off his own kick when Walsh was out on his feet and gave up chasing down the ball in the in-goal. <\/p>\n
\u201cReece Walsh was nowhere to be seen, he\u2019s clocked off, he\u2019s finished for the night,\u201d Cooper Cronk said on Fox League. <\/p>\n
Broncos star\u2019s \u2018poor\u2019 display called out<\/p>\n
Ezra Mam\u2019s defence has come under fire after Parramatta scored three tries in five minutes to lead 22-20 at halftime of Thursday night\u2019s clash against Brisbane.<\/p>\n
Reece Walsh scored the first try of the game and Kotoni Staggs scored another easy try soon after to give the Broncos a 12-0 lead after 10 minutes. <\/p>\n
But Kelma Tuilagi got Parramatta on the board, running through Brisbane\u2019s defence, specifically Mam and Jack Gosiewski, to score a try. <\/p>\n
Payne Haas scored an easy try for the Broncos but the floodgates as Parramatta tore the reigning premier\u2019s defence apart before halftime. <\/p>\n
The Broncos\u2019 left edge looked particularly vulnerable and Mam was caught napping when Eels fullback Isaiah Iongi flew past him to score in the 35th minute. <\/p>\n
\u201cIongi one-on-one with Ezra Mam, beats him on the outside for speed,\u201d Cooper Cronk said in commentary on Fox League.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is poor defence from the left edge of the Brisbane Broncos. Ezra Mam stops for a second and allows Isaiah Iongi to go through.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe left edge of the Brisbane Broncos is shaky tonight.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was very disappointing from a defence point of view,\u201d Broncos coach Michael Maguire said in his press conference.\u201d<\/p>\n
Matty Johns said post-game: \u201cMadge will be going, \u2018Oh dear, come on boys. Where\u2019s the commitment?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you enjoy fast open football and casual diabolical defence, this was the game for you. Bizarre game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eels legend Nathan Hindmarsh said: \u201cHe (Mam) just clocks off, he slows down a little bit where he could have made an effort to dive, clip him or ankle tap him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Premiership winner Bryan Fletcher said: \u201cThey (the Broncos) look like a shadow of their former selves from last year.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johns said Brisbane\u2019s start to the season had shades of the 2024 season when they missed finals after making the 2023 grand final. <\/p>\n
Mam was brought into the starting line-up at five-eighth after being demoted to the bench for veteran Ben Hunt in last week\u2019s season opener, but his defensive efforts left a bit to be desired.<\/p>\n
Fox League\u2019s Greg Alexander said at halftime: \u201cThey\u2019ve got the edge defence absolutely rattled. Ezra Mam is a matchwinner but boy he\u2019s been found out defensively on that side.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThey really have struggled defensively on that left side, Brisbane. They\u2019re all over the place. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey do look a little disjointed,\u201d Fox League\u2019s Yvonne Sampson said.<\/p>\n
Manly premiership winner Kieran Foran said: \u201cThe attacking football from both teams has been exceptional, but the defence has been feeble at times.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fox League commentator Andrew Voss said it was a \u201cmiracle\u201d the Eels were leading at halftime given Brisbane\u2019s dominance to start the game. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a crazy game of football,\u201d Voss said.<\/p>\n
When play resumed in the second half, Parramatta scored a fourth consecutive try when Reece Walsh dropped a kick, gifting possession back to the Eels. <\/p>\n
\u201cReece Walsh\u2019s dropped ball, Brisbane\u2019s goal line defence nowhere near good enough,\u201d Andrew Voss said. <\/p>\n
\u201cReece Walsh, I\u2019m not sure what happened there,\u201d Cooper Cronk said when Walsh dropped the ball. <\/p>\n
Mam had his best moment of the game when a deft grubber kick set up Kotoni Staggs for the centre\u2019s second try of the game to make it 26-26.<\/p>\n
A brilliant Walsh chip-and-chase try gave the Broncos the momentum back and a 32-28 lead midway through the second half. <\/p>\n
\u201cReece Walsh is absolutely the best player in the competition when he\u2019s playing like this,\u201d Cronk said.<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t get much easier for the Broncos, who take on the Storm in Melbourne next Friday.<\/p>\n
Read related topics:Brisbane<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brisbane Broncos are set for another week in the headlines after the reigning premiers suffered a 40-32…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535760,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,244438,158,85],"class_list":["post-535759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-ncaeditorialkayo","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535759"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535759\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535760"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}