Fuming star accuses Broncos of 'taking shortcuts' as Joey says 'something is missing' from premiers

The blowtorch is well and truly being pointed at Brisbane's defence and attitude after the reigning NRL premiers lost a third straight game in miserable fashion.

Since winning last year's grand final, the Broncos have lost the World Club Challenge to Hull Kr, been belted by Penrith at home in round one, and were then stunned by Parramatta - again at Suncorp Stadium - to kick off round two on Thursday night.

Michael Maguire's men have leaked 16 tries and conceded 96 points across those three games.

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"Something is drastically missing there," league icon Andrew Johns said on Nine as the post-mortem began on Thursday's 40-32 loss to the Eels.

"They are not showing any resilience. When the possession swings they are just falling in a heap.

"It seems to me Brisbane are saving themselves for attack."

The Broncos have some of the best attacking players in the game with the likes of Reece Walsh, Ezra Mam, and Adam Reynolds able to lay on tries seemingly at will.

But their work on the other side of the ball has been questionable to say the least.

Against the Eels they missed 28 tackles, had 10 ineffective tackles, conceded eight penalties and made 12 errors.

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Parramatta wasn't much better, but the Eels managed to win the game despite having less line breaks, less tackle breaks, and less offloads.

Brisbane star Patrick Carrigan was visibly fuming following Thursday's loss and knew exactly where the team went wrong.

"Defence, first and foremost," he told Nine's Sam Thaiday.

"Taking little shortcuts, missing fundamental roles. Some of those tries tonight were very poor.

"Credit to Parramatta obviously, but really disappointing from our end.

"We just fade in and out of games too much, and it's not good enough.

"We've got to be willing to make some tough choices and do it for a long period of time.

"Momentum is going to swing in this game as we've seen. We've got to be able to withstand pressure and we're not doing that at the moment.

"We've just got to find a way. We will have some honest reviews, go back to the drawing board and put time into those effort areas in the game because we're missing the mark at the moment and it's biting us on the arse."

Broncos legend Corey Parker agreed the team went to water as soon as momentum swung Parramatta's way.

"At the 20-minute mark, the Broncos had 17 completed sets from 17, (leading) 20-6... everything is tracking beautifully," Parker said on SEN's Breakfast with Coz and Heals.

"The reality of that is at some point the tide is going to turn, and the momentum is going to swing, and you've got to deal with it.

"And that was where it all went to shit."

It doesn't get any easier for Brisbane with a trip to Melbourne to look forward to in round three.