Madge admits ‘simple truth’ as Walsh heroics keep season alive
With their season on the line, Brisbane weren’t going to go down without a fight as tempers boiled over twice in the space of a minute during Thursday night’s must-win clash against the ladder-leading Panthers.
And the fiery clash only spurred the Broncos towards a massive upset, toppling the Panthers 14-12 at CommBank Stadium to keep their slim finals hopes alive and snapping a disastrous eight-game losing streak in the process.
Reece Walsh was enormous for the Broncos. Getty Images
The hostility began when Ezra Mam sparked a scuffle by shoving Liam Martin, which drew Dylan Edwards in and spilled things over towards the crowd.
On-field referee Todd Smith gave a warning to both teams, but less than a minute after play resumed, things erupted again between Payne Haas and Liam Henry.
Haas gave his opposing front-rower an old-fashioned facial on the ground, which prompted an immediate reaction from Henry and a brief melee.
Smith was forced to intervene again and threatened to take further action.
“I left that push and shove to sort yourself out, but it happened again ... there’s any more coming together, players will sit down, okay? Tell them,” he told captains Adam Reynolds and Nathan Cleary after the fracas.
Haas was penalised for instigating the clash, gifting Cleary a shot at a penalty goal, which he successfully converted to give Penrith a 12-8 lead at half time.
Reece Walsh had his fingerprints over everything for the Broncos, laying on two tries in the first half for Jordan Riki and Kotoni Staggs, but it was a double from Panthers winger Brian To’o that gave the hosts a narrow buffer.
In the second half, there was some more pushing and shoving but Smith didn’t stay true to his word, with no Broncos or Panthers players forced to sit down.
The visitors started edging closer towards a crucial try, before Edwards intervened with a try-saving tackle on Josiah Karapani in the corner.
But with just 12 minutes remaining, Walsh threw a cut-out pass to Karapani who crossed in the corner, before the star fullback slotted the sideline conversion.
Speaking to Nine post-game, Walsh admitted the noise around the Broncos during their losing streak made the feeling even more special.
“We knew it was gonna be a really tough game and I’m really proud of the boys, it’s been a while since we’ve had this feeling,” he said.
“It’s been a tough couple of months for us boys and you can see now what it really means to us. There’s a lot of things being said about us and our club … I’m just really proud of the boys and their efforts tonight. We deserved that one.”
Reece Walsh speaks to Phil Gould post-game. Nine
The 23-year-old was also asked by Phil Gould who made the decision for him to take the final conversion instead of captain Reynolds.
“Mine,” Walsh replied with a smile.
“He took one off me last year and I said the old legs have been out for a few weeks, so I’ll let him rest up.”
Reynolds told media post-game that he was “cramping up” and heaped praise on Walsh for stepping up in a clutch moment to seal the result.
The victory eases a little bit of pressure on coach Michael Maguire, who has been under the pump as Brisbane’s slide down the ladder continued.
Maguire never lost hope in the Broncos making a late run for the finals, but knows there is still a long way to go with seven wins from as many games required.
“Really pleased for the players and the staff, we’ve obviously gone through a bit over the last couple of months, but always believed that was inside them ... but we’ve obviously gotta keep doing it now,” the experienced coach said.
“People talk about what’s missing, but we’ve actually been missing quite a few of our players who were actually out there today - that’s the simple truth.
Michael Maguire speaks to media after round 20. Nine
“We had some unbelievable performances, Patty [Carrigan] came back and he hasn’t played for about six weeks. Payne hasn’t played a whole heap of footy, Reyno hasn’t played a whole heap, Ezra hasn’t played a whole heap.
“People have said things around us, but what I see at training every day is what I saw in the performance tonight. When you get players out there that you know you have, they all complement each other … people like Reece can come up with a performance like that off the back of what we do.
“I’ve said that every week. The fight that I’ve seen from the team and then the quality of players we put out there, you get a performance like that.”
The reigning premiers did cop an early blow when Brendan Piakura was forced from the field with a head knock and failed his HIA, ruling him out for round 21.
