It's All Over
by
Sunday September 14, 2003

The worst season in the Brisbane Broncos' history is over after being beaten by an unconvincing Penrith 28-18 at Penrith Stadium in their qualifying final. The Broncos were battling history to become the first 8th-placed team to beat the minor premiers since the introduction of the McIntyre 8 system in 1999, and after looking the goods for most of the first half simply disintegrated in the second half.

The Broncos led 18-4 just before half time, thanks largely to centre Stu Kelly's two tries and a third where he threw the last pass, when they let in a tragically soft try to Penrith forward Ben Ross under the posts. Ryan Girdler's conversion meant that, despite running into a howling gale, the Panthers had kept within 8 points of the Broncos. With the wind at their backs in the second half, and their confidence higher after Ross's four pointer, the signs were ominous.

Brisbane held firm for the opening minutes of the second half, despite conceding yet more soft penalties, but it was young winger Scott Minto, who has possibly conceded more tries than he has scored this season, who made the monumental blunder of the game.

A relatively ineffective bomb went high, and Minto positioned himself under it - or so he thought. As the ball came lower, Minto realised he wasn't there, and watched in agony as it bounced over his head. Then, to compound matters, he stumbled as he turned to chase, looking up in time to see opposite winger Luke Lewis ground the ball to reduce the margin to two points.

Just moments later, Ryan Girdler latched onto a pinpoint pass  - from Broncos five-eighth Ben Ikin - to race 50 metres to score under the posts and put the Panthers in front.

The Broncos had several opportunities in the next five minutes, but frustratingly let all of them fall to nothing. Scott Sattler made no mistake.  Lewis, charging towards his third try, was pulled up short in a great tackle, but offloaded to Sattler who dived over to score and put the game - and the Broncos' season - beyond doubt.

Penrith fumbled and bumbled their way through the next 11 minutes, but the Broncos fumbled more.

While the Broncos' performance wasn't that of a hardened finals team, Penrith's wasn't either.  It was a stop-start effort which would not have instilled confidence in coach John Lang, particularly with a preliminary final against the in form New Zealand Warriors looming in a fortnight's time. 

However, at least Penrith have the chance to improve to another level and really have a dig at their first Grand Final since 1991. For the Broncos, tomorrow marks the first day of a long, painful offseason where they need to analyse just what went wrong.

The answers Lang needs to find won't be nearly as tough as those for Wayne Bennett. And perhaps Lang himself is the answer to one, the one area Bennett is adamant cost his club.  Queensland State of Origin coach.

After taking an unfancied team who two years ago won the wooden spoon to a minor premiership and, if all goes well for them, a premiership, Lang has the credentials to take over the Maroons' reins.

And Bennett can concentrate on the harder job of getting the Broncos back playing the sort of football the game has come to expect from them.  Because it wasn't seen enough in 2003.