They gave the unbeaten Penrith Panthers one of their biggest scares of the 2021 NRL season – but coach Kevin Walters was far from satisfied following the Brisbane Broncos’ 20-12 loss at Suncorp Stadium.
Whatever the usually mild-mannered coach said during his fiery pre-game speech worked as the hosts took a 12-10 lead into the half-time break.
The two sides were locked at 12-all in the before Nathan Cleary took over, slotting a two-point field goal in the 73rd minute and crashing over for the match-winning try four minutes later.
“They had a crack but I’m actually disappointed more than anything,” Walters said at his post-match press conference.
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“In that last 15 minutes if we execute a few things better we win the game and we didn’t, so.”
… There’s a lot to take out of it, that was good but this club’s about winning and that’s our third loss in a row.”
Asked if his side’s impressive showing against the ladder-leaders could prove a turning point in the Broncos’ season, Walters replied: “Well that’s somewhere near, for mine … but it’s not where we want to be.
“I’m still disappointed with the loss but that was our best performance of the season, clearly, sot that’s something to build on.
“We’re not there yet by a long shot but there were some pleasing things that we all saw tonight.
“Particularly the players to each other and their effort in certain areas was really good, which is something we’ve been looking for for the past six weeks.
“And I keep telling everyone it was there, and they found it tonight.”
“… I want to win, that’s what I want to do, and the effort was great tonight but we had our chances to win and we didn’t.”
