Brisbane Broncos vs. Sydney Roosters Match Review

Well, that was painful again wasn't it. Friday night's game reeked of the same errors that we've seen all year. Slumps are nothing new to the Broncos but they are usually Origin related. Let's take a look at the crucial factors that led to our demise.

Errors. 12 of them in fact. Pressured passes led to knock-ons, also a few instances of dropping the ball cold. It's pretty rare that I agree with Phil Gould but he was spot on - we're trying to play above our ability at the moment. Flat bullet passes are a low percentage play and we saw us yet again go for that option. It used to work with people like Tonie Carroll hitting the line with speed. One of the reasons St George are doing as well as they are is error-free football - they made 13 errors this week and look what happened. In the first 2 rounds they made 10 total. Pretty obvious stuff.

Missed Tackles. Probably the most frustrating thing about the Broncos at the moment is the lack of structure and gusto in defence. The premiership in 2006 was built around strong defence and frustrating opposition into either a mistake or rushing their play. Our line is struggling to maintain itself because our tacklers aren't making ball and all tackles. They also aren't wrestling - while I believe wrestling is a blight on the game it's also here to stay. Wrestle in the tackle well and the line gets back quickly.

Injuries. I hate to rely on it but injuries are seriously limiting the output of this side. You only need to look at our attacking options to see this. Centres are so crucial to the modern game - big running games and offloads to their wingers lead to tries. Instead of Israel Folau and Justin Hodges, we are forced to use Ben Te'o and Alex Glenn. Both aren't natural centres - Hodgo and Izzy both have the ability to find the line, make line breaks and enable their wingers to cut loose. There is simply no substitution for quality.

The formula for success (or at least competitiveness) is quite simple - cut out the under 9's errors and dominate the ruck and we'll be back on track.