They won’t get any sympathy from rival fans but the Roosters are staring down the barrel of a steep freefall down the ladder in 2025.
And the Broncos look like they are back in the premiership hunt after smashing the Roosters 50-14 in their season opener at Allianz Stadium.
It was men against boys stuff as Payne Haas powered Brisbane to a comprehensive victory which had new coach Michael Maguire’s fingerprints all over it.
Like his successful teams of the past at club and representative level, Maguire’s Broncos were physically dominant as they played conservatively getting down to the field before giving the ball plenty of air in the red zone.
1. Madge unleashes relentless Broncos
Brisbane’s barnstorming display had all the hallmarks of the Maguire game plan.
They were relentless with the ball in hand and in defence, and once they had established the upper hand, the Broncos’ wise old playmakers Adam Reynolds and Ben Hunt spun the ball wide to get their speedsters into plenty of open space.
It’s been well documented that Maguire’s troops have been sweating it out in the Sunshine State over the summer months to be uber fit and they looked physically superior in every way to their opponents.
They will of course come up against stiffer opposition in the coming weeks when their premiership credentials can be measured much more accurately.
But as far as first impressions go, this was an impressive 80-minute statement of intent from a star-studded team which was the biggest disappointment of 2024.
With Tropical Cyclone Alfred bearing down on their home city, the Broncos then had to hop on a plane to Toowoomba before getting a bus ride back to Brisbane to be with their loved ones.
Maguire said he was impressed with the was his team earned the right to play expansive footy with their defensive commitment and hard yards through the middle.
“They just wanted to work for each other and that says a lot about the players,” Maguire said in the post-match media conference as he constantly deflected praise onto his team.
“The combinations are going to continue to grow and I’m excited about that.”
2. Like men against boys
Debutant centre Robert Toia has been talked up all off-season as a player of the future and he took less than eight minutes to make his mark.
Toia sidestepped Ben Hunt to create a long-range break after a bad read from opposite number Gehamat Shibasaki to send Dominic Young flying to the right corner for a 4-0 lead.
Hunt and Shibasaki made amends in the 15th minute when the veteran five-eighth’s cut-out pass on a blind-side raid put the journeyman on a short trip to the stripe.
Corey Paix and star prop Payne Haas interchanged passes close to the pine with the old give and go making it 12-4 after the hooker celebrated his return to the NRL after being in Kevin Walters’ doghouse all last season with Brisbane’s second try.
Payne Haas is tackled. (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)
Reece Walsh butchered a certain try when he sprinted into the backfield a couple of minutes later but after trying to sidestep Tedesco instead of simply shuffling the Steeden to an unmarked Deine Mariner, his opposing fullback knocked down his belated pass.
Jack Gosiewski rumbled through a congested but confused Roosters goal-line defence to make it 18-4 in the 26th minute.
Four minutes into the second half the contest was all but over after Adam Reynolds spun the ball wide on the last, Mariner chipped, Reynolds shanked a second kick off his shin, Selwyn Cobbo added a third to evade the cover defence before regathering to make it 26-4.
Cobbo collected his second from a more purposeful Reynolds kick before Hunt created and finished off a superb team try as the scoreline started to really blow out.
Walsh touched down to lift Brisbane to 40 points before Sandon Smith halted the one-way traffic midway through the second half.
Jesse Arthars got in on the scoring and Cobbo claimed his hat-trick as Brisbane raised the half-century with Young sneaking down the sideline for a second to slightly reduce the humiliation of the final deficit.
3. Grim reality dawns on Roosters
Less than half an hour into their 2025 campaign, the red, white and blue alarm bells were ringing.
Roosters fans were in full voice at Allianz Stadium after drawing first blood but they were swiftly silenced as the Broncos ran in three unanswered tries.
Reality rapidly dawned on the home fans that they are in for some tough times due to a roster heavily depleted by off-season departures and injuries.
The easy option is to lay the blame at the feet of halves Chad Townsend and Sandon Smith for having little impact.
But the fact is they had little room to move and even less momentum as their team was outplayed right across the park.
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They were without injured second-rower Nat Butcher and suspended prop Spencer Leniu, forcing Trent Robinson to blood debutants on his bench – Salesi Foketi and Taylor Losalu, as well as another inexperienced forward Blake Steep.
“I thought our smarts were really, really low,” coach Trent Robinson said after praising his team’s effort. “We got found out many times.
“This is the NRL – you have to make really good decisions under pressure.”
Robinson said he was not worried about the season ahead and claimed it was an exciting time for the club.
Victor Radley’s night ended in the 13th minute when he reeled out of a head clash with Roosters skipper James Tedesco while trying to bring down Broncos lock Kobe Hetherington.
His category-one concussion means he has already been ruled out of next Friday’s trip west to CommBank Stadium face Penrith and the prospect of a second straight shellacking to start the season.
4. Payne reigns with power and poise
Haas opened up the season with a 28-minute stint which skittled the Roosters and sounded a warning to the rest of the NRL that he means business.
He has been criticised for being used too much like a workhorse rather than an impact player over the past couple of seasons but this was all quality.
And just when the Roosters needed it the least, he came back in the second half to turn a big lead into a massive victory margin.
“He’s got the biggest engine you could imagine,” Brad Fittler said on Nine commentary.
“He’s an incredible specimen. Skipping across the field like he’s a five-eighth.”
His offload for Paix’s early try had a tinge of Arthur Beetson skill about it and the way he stood tall and was able to hold defenders at bay throughout the match was like watching the big kid in junior footy who the other parents politely enquire about the legitimacy of their birth certificate.
Haas finished with 165 running metres, 65 of them post contact from 15 runs with nine tackle busts (six more than any other forward on the field) with front-row comrade Patrick Carrigan (240m, with 89 post contact, from 25 runs) also dominating the undermanned and undersized Roosters in the middle.
They interchanged passed with each other as well as fellow middle forwards Hetherington and Xavier Willison to give Brisbane an added element of skill in the centre of the park which was absent last year as they slumped to 12th spot.
5. Collins on too bloody long
Roosters prop Lindsay Collins was gushing blood from a facial wound early in the game.
He got patched up on the run while Radley was being treated and helped off.
The blood kept flowing but somehow Collins was not told to go off for proper treatment.
Officials in the Bunker are regularly in the referee’s ear to let them know about everything else under the sun – when a player is bleeding profusely and continues to do so, it’s not a great look for the NRL to have them remaining on the field.
Thankfully, he managed to get it bandaged up enough during the half-time break so as not to add any more red to his jersey.
The Kick: Joey fumes after Crichton reported for non-event incident
Nobody is more cautious when it comes to protecting kickers than Knights legend Andrew Johns.
But the Immortal halfback was spitting chips when Roosters forward Angus Crichton was placed on report in the 46th minute for a hit on Hunt after a clearing kick.
Crichton’s right arm thundered into Hunt’s chest but the hit was neither late nor high.
“There was no contact with the head. That’s just fair play,” John’s said on Nine commentary.
“He kicks the ball, it’s simultaneous. There’s still got to be pressure on the half. For me that’s not a penalty.”
Not that the Roosters had any hope at that stage but Cobbo scored off the ensuing set to give Brisbane a 26-point buffer.
