Broncos happy to be underdogs, says skipper

RUGBY LEAGUE: Brisbane have adopted a siege mentality heading into their do-or-die NRL final against Parramatta.

The Broncos have their backs against the wall and have circled the wagons after being upset by Canterbury in their final-round tune-up.

By their skipper’s own admission, their attitude was lacking as they were downed five tries to two by the Bulldogs and were guilty of already having one eye on the finals.

The Broncos missed out on the chance to stay in seventh and slipped to eighth to set up a match-up with the Eels at Bankwest Stadium on Sunday.

Boyd said it also served as the impetus for them to be written off by their critics who have given the powerhouse Queensland club little chance against Brad Arthur’s fifth-placed team.

“Our attitude was a little bit off on the weekend; it’s one of those games everyone expects you to win, probably thinking about the finals the next week even though we weren’t assured of a position,” skipper Darius Boyd said at the NRL finals launch in Sydney yesterday.

“It’s back-against-the-wall going out to Parramatta this week, no fallback position, no one gives us a chance to win as well. We seem to play the best then.”

Boyd has been the target of constant criticism this year with his future brought into question.

He pointed to Brisbane’s six-win, onedraw and three-loss record over the past 10 weeks and said he felt like his halves combination with Jake Turpin had helped steady them and get them back in finals contention.

“(Coach Anthony Seibold) has a great game plan, playing me a little bit like a second fullback,” he said.

“Myself and (Anthony Milford) play fullback both sides of the park and Turps runs around as a halfback on both sides. It seems to work well.” — Steve Zemek TITLE ODDS RUGBY LEAGUE: