The Dragons are back in the winners circle thanks to a heart-stopping 30-26 win over the Broncos on a warm Sunday afternoon at Suncorp Stadium.
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The visitors were dealt an early blow with star rookie Dylan Egan being unfortunately helped off the field in the opening exchanges as a result of an apparent lower leg issue.
The Dragons were forced to press on without their inspirational back rower as the match developed into an arm wrestle of sorts.
It was returning Broncos five-eighth Ezra Mam who was involved in back-to-back tries for the hosts to earn them a handy buffer before the Red V wrestled back some momentum heading into the sheds courtesy of a Tyrell Sloan four-pointer as Lyhkan King-Togia – who threatened on several occasions in the first forty – produced a classy, cross-field kick.
If the drama of the first half wasn’t enough, the second had plenty with Sloan and Clint Gutherson both securing doubles as the Dragons held on for a special win despite spending 10 minutes with a player in the bin.
Match: Broncos v Dragons
Round 11 -
home Team
Broncos
8th Position
away Team
Dragons
10th Position
Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
Brisbane embarked on several attacking incursions down the Dragons left edge through the opening quarter of the clash, but Valentine Holmes produced a pair of big stops to force errors and earn his side possession.
The first points of the clash belonged to the home side however off an attacking scrum with Gehamat Shibasaki collecting what appeared to be a forward Mam pass to dive over and make it 6-0.
Kyle Flanagan claimed a try shortly after off a well-placed King-Togia kick which Sloan batted forward with the Dragons losing their Captain’s Challenge in an attempt to overrule it.
The Broncos extended their lead to double digits off it through Mam who stepped his way over to the right of the sticks on a fifth-tackle raid.
Sloan snagged a needed try for the Red V prior to the intermission off another deft King-Togia kick with the winger skying through the air and contending with a mid-air tackle to get the ball to the turf and cut the deficit back to 12-4.
The Dragons wrestled back some ascendancy in the moments leading up to half-time but were unable to eat further into the Brisbane lead.
The visitors cut the deficit back to a half-dozen early in the second half with Valentine Holmes adding a penalty goal from in front after Brisbane were whistled for an illegal strip.
What followed a horror sequence for the Dragons with Jaydn Su’A sin-binned for tackling a player off a quick tap as Adam Reynolds knocked over a penalty goal to make it an eight-point game once more.
It was again Holmes who came up with a momentum-turning play for the visitors however nailing Shibasaki to force a yardage error off Brisbane’s next set.
Gutherson and Hamish Stewart combined off it to find the Dragons’ second try of the afternoon with the former linking with his hard-running lock before wrapping around to take in a brilliant offload and muscle his way over the stripe.
With the Dragons still down a man, Jacob Liddle’s sensational knack of finding timely four-pointers was again on show moments later.
Kotoni Staggs threw back an attacking Brisbane kick in hopes of finding a supporting teammate only for Liddle to storm through, wrestle the ball away from a chasing Bronco, and race 80 metres downfield to score.
Mam got to him, but a superb goose step saw Liddle pull away and dive over for his sixth try in 10 games this season.
With it back to 13-on-13, the Broncos managed to respond with Mam stepping his way into space from inside his own half and handing it off to Staggs to put the hosts back up 20-18.
Refusing to yield, the Dragons produced a sideline-to-sideline dazzler with Holmes speeding into space down the left before a ball inside to a slipping Flanagan who regained his feet and moved the ball through the hands out to Sloan who dove over in the right corner.
Liddle, Su’A, Blake Lawrie and Moses Suli all played a part as the ball was shifted right with Holmes putting the conversion over from inches inside the touchline to make it a 24-20 Dragons lead.
NRL Match Highlights: Round 11 v Broncos
With five minutes to play, the Dragons surged further ahead with Cook sending his co-captain Gutherson over for his second of the afternoon off a perfectly scripted scrum play from 10 metres out.
The Broncos kept their hopes alive after regaining possession off a short kick-off with Jesse Arthars scoring in the left corner off a Reynolds cut-out to bring it back to 30-26.
The try set up a heart-stopping final minute which included a Gutherson try-saver, a Broncos Captain’s Challenge, and a match-winning Jack de Belin tackle as Shane Flanagan’s men held on for a spirited victory in enemy territory.
