“Empty”, “emotional” and “sh*thouse” are a few of the phrases the Broncos use to explain the sensation of dropping final 12 months’s grand ultimate.
It had been nearly 4 months to the day when Adam Reynolds, Pat Carrigan, Kotoni Staggs and Billy Walters sat down with foxsports.com.au — and nonetheless it was a tricky ask to recall the ultimate moments of the 26-24 loss to the Panthers.
The Broncos have been up 16 factors with 24 minutes to go after an Ezra Mam hat-trick had all however sealed the membership’s first premiership in 17 years.
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The story wrote itself — Broncos bounce again from 2022 implosion to realize premiership glory below membership legend Kevin Walters.
Caxton Street was raging and merchandise shops have been on the point of unpack the ‘Broncos 2023 Premiers’ memorabilia.
That was, till, the Panthers did what they do greatest and clawed their approach again into the sport because of some Nathan Cleary magic. The 26-year-old arrange Moses Leota for a strive, kicked a 40-20 after which scored within the 76th minute to grab the premiership and depart the Broncos utterly shell-shocked.
“I remember very clearly,” Staggs stated when requested concerning the ultimate minutes.
“We were down on our tryline, they had the ball and were slowing it down.
“That feeling you get when you know you’ve lost the game… Your heart starts sinking a little bit, you get emotional.
“It’s pretty sad for the whole club, given how hard we’ve worked and how far we came.”
Carrigan was requested the identical query.
“Sh*thouse. It sucked,” he stated with out hesitation.
“I think the feeling when Nath went over it was kind of like ‘far out, what’s going on now?’ and then we obviously tried to make a play to get the ball back but… it sucks.
“You don’t get another shot, it’s done.”
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Adam Reynolds had an “empty feeling” when the full-time siren sounded and stated it’s “one that you never want to feel as a football player.”
Unfortunately for Reynolds although it’s a sense he’s skilled twice after additionally dropping to the Panthers in 2021 — his ultimate season as a Rabbitoh.
He didn’t soar to supply recommendation to his Broncos teammates as a result of he believes “you’ve got to let everyone deal with it in their own way” and “everyone handles the situation different so it’s about letting them get through that emotion first.”
But he did encourage them to make use of the heartbreak as a launching pad for 2024 and past.
“Once the storm has settled a little there then you can start talking to the players, reassure them that we will get back there and to use that feeling to motivate you to get better,” he stated.
“It’s obviously hard going through it at the time but there’s a good support network here, all the boys got around each other to make sure everyone was doing all right.”
And to ensure no participant forgets that heartbreak, Kevin Walters bought the squad collectively within the theatre to re-watch the sport, as Staggs revealed.
“Our first day back, you don’t want to go back to watch that grand final but ‘Kevvie’ sat us all down and we went over it and watched it again,” he stated.
“Still when you talk about it, it hits you a little bit…
“We were like ‘oh do we have to be in the room?’ A lot of players hadn’t watched it back.
“You don’t want to watch that sort of stuff, the way we went down, we had it in our hands to take it. But that’s the game of NRL, something can happen in a split second.
Reynolds described the experience of re-watching a grand final loss as “not a good one” and added: “You live through it once so you don’t want to watch it again.”
But he can perceive the coach’s method.
“Going over it now, we can obviously see the positive signs,” he stated.
“There were moments in that game where we weren’t good enough whether it’s through fatigue or choices in attack and defence. There’s areas we can definitely improve on this year and no doubt we’ll be a better team going through it.”
Staggs agreed, saying: “You learn a lot from games like that… It’s something we’re going to grow from and be better from.”
That is the one and solely time Staggs and Reynolds have watched the sport, however Carrigan then again, had truly ripped the bandaid off earlier than returning to pre-season coaching.
“I already watched it, I got it out of the way,” he laughed when requested concerning the video session.
He conceded “it sucks because you know what’s at the end of it” however believes “you’ve got to do it” due to the teachings that come from it.
“Kev sat us down and the coaching staff cut up some clips and highlighted some stuff,” Carrigan recalled.
“He even spoke about the whole saying of ‘you’ve got to lose one to win one’ and while he didn’t believe it, watching our game back he said that he can take a lot of lessons from that for us and I think we’re the same.
“We’re definitely in a better position as a team.”
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Staggs didn’t want lengthy to pinpoint the most important lesson out of the loss.
“You have to play to that whistle at the end, it’s an 80-minute game, you can’t give up,” he stated.
“We say it during pre-season, it’s the extra effort stuff that will win you the game.
“You learn a lot about yourself in games like that, how massive they are and what you need to bring and do for the team.”
Billy Walters agreed — and declared they’ll “be ready” subsequent time they’re on the most important stage in membership footy.
“If you want to be the best you’ve got to play footy for the whole 80 minutes,” he stated.
“I feel like we definitely went into our shell a little bit and against a team like Penrith, they just turn the screws and unfortunately made us crack.
“If we get back there this year, which we will, we won’t make the same mistake. We’ll be ready.”
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Meanwhile, Carrigan put the blowtorch on the Broncos’ “pretty average” begin to the sport, given they conceded the primary attempt to took 38 minutes to attain one in every of their very own.
“It was a bit of a trend throughout our year, we didn’t really respect the footy. We play exciting and are hard to stop but if you turnover that much footy against teams like Penrith, they just wore us out and got us in the long run,” he stated.
“They’re key lessons we’ve learnt the hard way.”
Now that the grand ultimate has been unpacked, analysed and packed again up, the Broncos have moved on.
Some will say final season’s premiership was the one which bought away given the roster has taken a success with Thomas Flegler, Herbie Farnworth and Keenan Palasia departing.
But the membership has excessive expectations for 2024 — in truth Carrigan believes a premiership ought to “pretty much” be the go mark for this season.
“Kev is pretty good at keeping us grounded, taking it week to week and getting us to enjoy our footy. But I think for us now, after getting a taste last year, if you’re not there again then it definitely won’t be a pass mark for the season…
“I want to win a comp.”
And all of it begins on Sunday when the Broncos kick off their season in opposition to the Roosters in an historic double-header at Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas.
Source web site: www.foxsports.com.au
