‘Bullied’ Broncos ready to hit back
COMPLACENCY may have been an issue last week but Brisbane’s Matt Lodge has promised that won’t be the case in Sunday’s NRL elimination final against Parramatta, promising fireworks from the maligned Broncos pack. Before his 200th NRL game, veteran back-rower Matt Gillett revealed the Broncos were not in the right mindset for their 30-14 upset loss to Canterbury. A brutally honest Gillett admitted Brisbane let themselves down against the Bulldogs, knowing only an unlikely draw between Cronulla and Wests Tigers would have denied them a top-eight finish if they lost in round 25. Brisbane duly scraped into the finals after Cronulla thumped the Tigers 25-8. “Mentally we weren’t there to show up for each other because we knew we were a chance of having that second shot with finals just around the corner,” Gillett said of the Bulldogs result. “But there is no fallback this week, so we have to go out there and give it our all.” Any doubts that Brisbane would again be taking their opponents lightly were brushed aside by a fired-up Lodge yesterday. The prop said the Broncos forwards would be out to prove their critics wrong, after claiming there had been talk that they could be bullied, promising a fast start at Bankwest Stadium against the Eels – who finished the regular season fifth. And Lodge backed his fellow front-rower Payne Haas and back-rower David Fifita to lead the way. “There should be some fireworks at the start of the game,” he said. “A few people have said we can get bullied through the middle but I don’t think people are going to have too much luck bullying guys like Payne or Dave; we can’t wait for Sunday.” Brisbane will need to overcome a woeful 1-4 record in Sydney this year in which they have conceded 164 points – including a 38-10 thrashing from Parramatta at Bankwest Stadium in round 14. Not that Lodge had to be reminded. “To be honest we have been pretty s**t in Sydney. Everyone knows that,” he said. “But it is a different ball game now. It is knockout footy. “We will go down there with a different mindset.” Lodge said Brisbane would take confidence from their 17-16 golden point win over the Eels at Suncorp Stadium two weeks ago.