Favourites up front
Brisbane flex NRLW muscle in Dragons win
THE Broncos emerged as the new NRLW favourites, after a thrilling debut saw them claim a commanding 30-4 win over the Dragons in their inaugural match yesterday.
With a strong crowd of 18,853 by full-time at Suncorp Stadium, the Broncos created history with the runaway victory and stamped their authority as contenders for the first women’s premiership.
Ahead of the start of the NRLW on Saturday, the Sydney Roosters were the easy favourites.
But their upset 10-4 loss at the hands of the Warriors opened the door for another team to take that mantle and the Broncos responded.
They are now the team to beat.
Broncos coach Paul Dyer said the players would now have to keep a lid on those expectations.
“Pressure comes from results,” he said.
“There won’t be one easy game in this contest. The key now is making sure their mindset is about the next three weeks, not just this week.
“The result was the end result of a really hard few weeks of work.
“As long as we keep turning up at training and understand there’s a lot of hard work to go between now and the next two or three weeks, that’s really important for us.”
Led strongly by Australian hooker Brittany Breayley, as well as speedy fullback Chelsea Baker and skipper Ali Brigginshaw, the Broncos were ruthless as they claimed the 26-point win.
In hot conditions at Suncorp Stadium, their bruising defence denied the Dragons time and time again, while they were also slick in attack.