{"id":725094,"date":"2026-06-09T12:10:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T12:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/725094\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T12:10:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T12:10:14","slug":"nrl-2026-brisbane-broncos-on-the-cusp-of-making-unwanted-history-set-to-miss-out-on-finals-football-20-year-first-nrl-news-nrl-360","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/725094\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Brisbane Broncos on the cusp of making unwanted history, set to miss out on finals football, 20-year first, nrl news, nrl 360"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Brisbane Broncos are on the verge of one of the most dramatic falls from grace in recent memory.<\/p>\n

Less than 12 months after winning the NRL premiership, the Broncos are facing the grim reality of becoming the first reigning premiers to miss out on making the finals the following season since the Wests Tigers in 2006.<\/p>\n

Watch every game of every round of the Premiership Season LIVE with no ad-breaks during play on FOX LEAGUE, available on Kayo Sports |New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Losing their last five consecutive matches, the Broncos have slipped to 12th place on the ladder and the chances of going back-to-back – or even making the NRL Finals series – are hanging up by a thread.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re gone. They\u2019re gone. They\u2019re herding towards one of the biggest disasters for a reigning premier we\u2019ve seen in 20 years,\u201d foxsports.com.au\u2019s Paul Crawley said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact of the matter is that there hasn\u2019t been a reigning premier that\u2019s missed the finals since the Tigers missed it in 2006 after winning the comp in 2005.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis just shows how rare it is and they\u2019re at that stage now that they\u2019ve let themselves down in recent times.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if they sneak into the finals, they can\u2019t lose one more game of their remaining games to finish top four; they\u2019re gone and it\u2019s been an absolute slide off a cliff.\u201d<\/p>\n

Broncos’ finals hopes slipping away? | 06:56<\/p>\n

The Broncos\u2019 downfall has been particularly surprising, given that they have one of the best rosters in the NRL.<\/p>\n

However, Crawley revealed that the departure of assistant coach Ben Te\u2019o and the future exit of Payne Haas at the start of the year is having a lingering effect on the rest of the squad.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt goes back to Payne Haas in the pre-season. You look at the incident with Ben Te\u2019o and the fact that he\u2019s gone, their defensive coach,\u201d Crawley continued.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so many things at that club just don\u2019t add up at the moment, and Ezra Mam is another one.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis has gone beyond must-win for this club and the bloke that was the second best player in the grand final is sitting on the bench.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daley questioned on big Olakau’atu call | 01:31<\/p>\n

While Crawley explained that they might not make the finals this season, News Corp reporter David Riccio pointed out that not only is their current form concerning, but it also shows concerns for their long-term future.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy concern is right here and now in the present is real, but I have longer-term fears for the Broncos,\u201d Riccio said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdam Reynolds is on his way out. Payne Haas is on his way out, Pat Carrigan, we\u2019re not to sure about his long-term future. I\u2019m worried about their leadership with (them) leaving.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s concerning with this major franchise is this premiership window is shrinking by the minute and I fear for next year big time. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at the Penrith and Melbourne they stay there entrenched with premiership aspirations and not for the Broncos.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brisbane Broncos are on the verge of one of the most dramatic falls from grace in recent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":725095,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-725094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725094","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=725094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/725094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=725094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=725094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=725094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}