1 week Ago
NRL great Cooper Cronk has called out the lack of consistency from the Broncos, pointing to a pre-game moment as a potential contributor to their shock 26-16 loss to the Roosters . Michael Maguire’s men entered the clash as heavy favourites, but failed to meet the Roosters’ level of physicality. “Felt they were a bit hungrier than where we were at,” Maguire said in his post-match press conference.
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Limited-time offer. “They turned up and had a bit more physicality than what I know is in our team. We’ve shown we can do it, but it’s about being able to find that.
” Cronk noted some vision captured by Fox League cameras prior to the game which showed a lighthearted Broncos dressing room and wondered whether the team were “truly dialled in”. “Our cameras up with the team in Suncorp before the game and it doesn’t tell you all the story – but it gets you a little bit of a snippet of the mindset of what the team is about to run out on the field (with),” Cronk said. “And there was just a little bit of joking around with the Broncos, a little bit of sort of .
.. not complacency, but not truly being dialled in to where you need to be every week in the NRL.
” The Hall of Fame halfback went onto say that it looked as if the Broncos were trying to take “shortcuts” against an opposition which on paper, had far less talent. “This is a very good team, it’s arguably well-balanced better than most teams. So when they put it together, we’ve seen what they can do.
But the consistency piece is still a struggle for most teams, unless you’re the Dogs or the Melbourne Storm at the moment,” Cronk said. “There was a little bit of ..
. call it looking for shortcuts in that first half. Looking for the big play every play to win it.
“Adam Reynolds was arguing with the referee a little bit. So there was a couple of little things.” MORE NRL NEWS ‘F***WIT’: Rooster’s ugly spray of NRL icon as details of Robbo spray emerge BIG HITS: Smith double leads Roosters to Broncos boilover as Teddy outpoints Walsh ‘THERE YOU GO FLANAGAN!’ : Dragons’ ‘money man’ brings back try celebration ‘UNAVOIDABLE’: Panthers flyer sin-binned for high shot as legend doubts crackdown There were no excuses from Maguire, who said his side were simply not good enough.
He did however rubbish suggestions his side were “complacent” after they thrashed the Roosters 50-14 just over a month ago. “Do you feel there were any complacency coming into this game considering the dominant performance you had in Round 1?” a reporter asked. “No,” the Broncos coach responded.
“You can’t be complacent. “Look at the games. Any team (can win) at the moment.
We got the Roosters in Round 1 then they beat the four-time premiers “If you’re thinking like that, you’re kidding yourself. “Harsh lesson tonight. We didn’t play well tonight and now we have to turn up next week.
That’s what the game demands.” Former Broncos coach Kevin Walters said a number of Brisbane’s biggest stars didn’t aim up, believing the injury cloud Reynolds was under this week may have disrupted preparations. “Adam Reynolds playing this week, that maybe created a bit of noise around the team .
.. but they just didn’t look quite on song,” Walters said.
“Payne Haas and Pat Carrigan were well contained. Ben Hunt didn’t really get himself in the picture too much. Reece Walsh a the back threw a couple of nice passes and set up some nice tries, but still wasn’t really in the game as such.
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