The night it all went to very wrong...

Evening all and thanks again for stopping by…so my team the Brisbane Broncos are in trouble huh? Worst crop of Broncos ever? They gave up against Canberra and were flogged? Yep…that’s just about the gist of what I’m going to write about.

As regular readers would know the Broncos are my team. I have followed them for at least the last 15 years and as a fan have enjoyed tremendous success. Six Premierships, countless superstars and every year experiencing the thrill of the one in eight chance to win the title. I can’t see that happening in 2009…in fact last weekend I was questioning if we would even win another game this season.

The surprise wasn’t so much that the Broncos lost 56-0, but we lost to Canberra! The freakin CANBERRA RAIDERS towelled us up? No disrespect to the Raiders but My God, the RAIDERS beat US…no they didn’t beat us…they smashed us!! Canberra pulled our pants down and had their way with us. It was the most embarrassing night ever to be a Broncos fan.

Stupidly I sat and watched the whole thing. By the end I was so appalled that I didn’t even want us to get a try. I remember texting a mate of mine saying how lucky it was we weren’t playing a ‘good team’. The Dragons would have deadset beat us by 100. I don’t think I’m exaggerating either, if the current Dragons team came up against those imposters the other night they would have won by 100 points.

I turned the game on expecting a win. There were no more excuses, yes there have been injuries but Broncos teams of yesteryear know when they need a win to launch an assault on the finals. Last week was it…it didn’t have to be pretty, but they needed to win. Not only did they not win, they didn’t even compete. Then, they gave up. And that was the worst thing.

I was very vocal earlier this season about the way Parramatta were playing, but when it’s your own team that dishes up such garbage…embarrassing is the term that keeps popping up and that doesn’t even describe it properly. Early-season Parramatta would have beaten Brisbane the other night…my Queensland Cup side Wynnum-Manly would have beat them by 13+!!

Full credit to Canberra because they played what was in front of them and put on a nice show for their fans. But jeez the Broncos were ordinary.

So where did it come from? Injuries, the opposition, conditions, pressure, the coach?? I won’t confess to seeing a 56-0 drubbing coming up, no supporter would, but I mean the signs were there. People have mentioned this week the Broncos won six of their first seven or whatever it was. But no one has mentioned the fact they nearly got run-over, holding big leads, in almost every one of those wins.

Then there’s the off-field shit which has been building in the public spotlight for 12 months but most likely festering for longer. One of friends suggested there were too many Kiwi’s and New South Welshman in the side who didn’t understand what it meant to wear the Broncos jersey. I laughed it off at first but then had a think…could he be right?

Or is it ‘Ivan the Terrible’; the rookie coach now under a mountain of pressure. I do feel sorry for him and don’t want to see him sacked. But one thing has irked me and that has been talk this isn’t ‘his’ team. Ok, guys like Ashton Sims and Joel Clinton (and no Petero) maybe not…but everyone else at the club (and more importantly everyone who is not) has to be on his watch!

Wayne Bennett announced early last year he was leaving. So for mine that meant Ivan had a say in every signing or releasing of players since Rd 1, 2008. That includes names like Setu, Te’o, Ennis, Hannant and Stagg.

I don’t have any answers, as a fan all I have left is hope. I don’t think we can make the finals, heck I’m not even sure we can beat Cronulla this week. But I still have hope and in rugby league that can be a pretty strong thing.

While not confident, I am adamant in saying nothing short of a win this weekend is good enough. We’ve sat through the mess of last week, heard the apologies this week. Now we don’t want a ‘good’ performance, we don’t want improvement. We want a 100% committed, no excuses, victory over the Sharks on Monday night.

Nothing else will do.

Tips this week: Melbourne, Dragons, Manly, Bulldogs, Titans, Tigers, Newcastle, Brisbane
Last week: 2/8(Total: 83/148)
Winning percentage: 56%

Agree, disagree or just feel like a chat you can find me at andrew.keyte@gmail.com or the other little buttons around the page.

Go the Broncos, please,
Keyto