The Brisbane Broncos lost their final regular season game 32-22 to the Melbourne Storm to miss out on the minor premiership. The Storm remain a bogey team for the Broncos, who will now face them again in the preliminary final.
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Inspired Melbourne comeback
In what turned out to be a glimpse of the qualifying final, the Storm had to come from behind on three separate occasions at Lang Park. In the end, Melbourne had too much quality even though both sides rested most of their stars.
Grant Anderson scored a double before halftime to make it 14-12 in favour of Melbourne.
Broncos second-half rally falls short
Pereira’s second try briefly restored Brisbane’s lead early in the second half. But penalties and late tries from Papenhuyzen, Reimis Smith and Faalogo’s second try proved too much to overcome.
Brisbane battled but made too many errors, completing just 72% of their sets to Melbourne’s 82%. Critical errors at key moments ultimately cost the Broncos.
Regular season ends with familiar foe waiting in the wings
The loss means Brisbane have now incredibly lost 14 straight matches to Melbourne dating back to 2016. And the Broncos’ finals campaign begins with the worst possible matchup, as they face the Storm once again in the preliminary final at Lang Park on Friday, September 8.
Coach Kevin Walters praised his team’s effort despite the defeat: “Effort was great, just not quite so smart on a few plays and we just weren’t good enough tonight.”
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But to make the finals, Brisbane will need to produce something special to end their long losing streak against Melbourne. After so many defeats, can the Broncos finally exorcise their bogey team this Friday?
Published 4 September 2023