Brisbane Broncos hit top form in the second half to comfortably dispatch Manly Sea Eagles 26-10 in an injury-hit clash. Injuries began to mar the game in the second half as Moses Suli (broken finger), Apisai Koroisau (calf), Toafofoa Sipley (broken leg), Jack Bird, who may have suffered an ACL tear, and Tevita Pangai Jnr all left the field with injuries. Manly opened the scoring through Koroisau who snuck over cleverly from dummy half. Then Manly’s Lebanese international Abbas Miski was denied a try twice in the first half, first for obstruction and second for a forward pass as the Sea Eagles continued to pile the pressure on the Broncos. But the ‘home side’ couldn’t capitalise and they were pegged back by Anthony Milford’s try with five minutes to go in the first half. The Broncos hit the front after only four minutes of the second half when Darius Boyd found Corey Oates free on the left flank. Then they extended that lead through Milford’s kick that found Matt Gillett. The Broncos were able to deal with the absences better in the second half and scored once again off a kick from Milford which was taken in by Darius Boyd. The Sea Eagles did well to score and give themselves hope with ten minutes to go when Jack Gosiewski went over for his first try in the NRL. But David Fifita’s try on 78 minutes sealed the win for Brisbane. Sea Eagles: Elliot, Miski, Suli, Parker, Garrick, Sironen, Elgey, Sipley, Koroisau, Taupau, Thompson, Gosiewski, Trbojevic; Interchanges: Fainu, Tanginoa, Waddell, Boyle Tries: Koroisau, Gosiewski; Goals: Garrick Broncos: Boyd, Oates, Staggs, Bird, Shibasaki, Milford, Dearden, Lodge, Turpin, Haas, Glenn, Gillet, Flegler; Interchanges: Carrigan, Fifita, Pangai Jnr, Ofahengaue Tries: Milford, Oates, Gillett, Boyd, Fifita; Goals: Staggs 3 Full match reports of all this weekend’s NRL Magic Round games will feature in Monday’s League Express.<doc-sep>The so-called Magic Round offered little advantage to the Brisbane Broncos. Friday night at Suncorp, in front of a huge crowd against a travelling opponent? Pretty much par for the course really and a decent advantage. Except this time, the entire NRL caravan had moved north, with 16 teams sharing the venue for the weekend. Facebook Twitter Whatsapp Reddit Email Share With the Broncos sitting at 2-6 for the season, they needed an advantage. Anything they could find to combat a Manly side that had exceeded expectations over the first eight rounds of the competition would help. Early on, the Sea Eagles looked like well and truly swooping the home side. An early converted try to Apisai Koroisau had Manly six clear after ten minutes before the Broncos dug in and fought hard to stay with a confident Manly team. Both Manly centres Moses Suli and Brad Parker were forced from the field with injury during the first half and the Broncos began to exert some pressure. The Sea Eagles were forced to scramble personnel to cover the losses and Anthony Milford took advantage in the 35th minute with a try beside the posts. Corey Oates scored for the Broncos early in the second half after brilliant work from Darius Boyd and the Suncorp crowd lifted the roof, hoping that their much maligned team might be on their way to a gutsy and desperate victory. Advertisement Advertisement A superb 40/20 by Milford kept Brisbane on the attack and when young halfback Tom Dearden broke the line and seemed likely to score, the obvious delay of the play-the-ball by Brendan Elliot made me wonder why the sin bin wasn’t used. The weight of possession would eventually tell and Matt Gillett strolled over under the posts after a brilliant kick from Milford. The 16-6 lead appeared plenty against the tiring Manly troops. The flow of possession and penalties swung the way of Brisbane. With Api Koroisau already off the field with an ankle injury, Toafofoa Sipley went down with what has been reported as a fractured leg and the Sea Eagles looked like throwing up the white flag, unable to continue due to a lack of troops. It left Manly as lambs to the slaughter and Brisbane produced immediately via a Darius Boyd try and the conversion put the Broncos clear by 16. Jack Bird left the field late with what appeared to be a serious knee issue and Jack Gosiewski scored a barnstorming late try for the Sea Eagles, but it was to be the Broncos’ night at Suncorp – a night that saw them gulp a few breaths of air from just above water level to record a 26-10 victory. Earlier in the evening, the Wests Tigers walked onto the playing surface after a solid pre-game warm-up. The squad had been on time to catch their flight from Sydney and arrived at the hotel organised and composed. In direct contrast, the Panthers’ head office appeared to have failed to relay the details of Magic Round to the players. The mountain men either missed their flight, overslept their alarms or stayed on the bus after failing to show for the first 40 minutes against a rampant Tigers. Advertisement Advertisement Sure, Wests were good, setting up a 24-0 lead after 19 minutes. However, the Panthers were flat out terrible. An appropriate level of intensity was absent, aggression was missing, and without the ball, Penrith stood by and watched the Tigers have their way. Five tries in the opening 20 minutes is a rarity in the NRL and against a roster touted as one of the best and most talented in the competition, it was somewhat astonishing. Robbie Farah, Benji Marshall and Moses Mbye pulled the strings and controlled both the tempo and the scoreboard as the Panthers stood like deer in the headlights. Right now, team Cleary looks awful and the pre-season pundits have been proven well off the mark. The supposed talent possessed at the foot of the mountains appears to be some sort of rugby league mirage that has sucked in all and sundry. The truth is, Penrith are already out of finals contention. Advertisement Advertisement There was to be some recoil from the Panthers with an unconverted try after 29 minutes yet the Tigers took a comfortable 26-4 lead into the sheds and the match was essentially done. If the first half was excitement plus, the second was something of a snore fest, as the Panthers continued to fumble and bumble their way along the road to mediocrity. As the rain hit Suncorp Stadium hard for much of the second half, just the one try to Esan Marsters after 68 minutes bothered the scorers and the Tigers held on for a convincing 30-4 victory. The most compelling statement to come from the match might well be the slim chance of New South Wales selectors going into the Origin series with the Panthers’ duo of Nathan Cleary and James Maloney. It raises a serious headache for the Blues, but it doesn’t even come close to the one currently being experienced by Ivan Cleary at Penrith after a 2-7 start to the season. Sports opinion delivered daily Advertisement<doc-sep>
Anthony Milford scores a try in Brisbane’s win over Manly A potential season-ending knee injury for star centre Jack Bird has soured Brisbane’s 26-10 NRL win over Manly at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night. The Broncos notched just their third victory of the season after under fire captain Darius Boyd and playmaker Anthony Milford silenced their critics by inspiring the round nine triumph in front of 41,388 fans. But the hosts paid a huge price with Bird going down in the 60th minute with a suspected ACL injury. Live stream the 2019 NRL Telstra Premiership on KAYO SPORTS. Every game of every round live & anytime on your TV or favourite device. Get your 14 day free trial > MATCH CENTRE: Sea Eagles v Broncos A distraught Bird tried to stay on the field but was eventually escorted off in a huge blow to the rejuvenated Broncos. Bird had looked good on the right centre in a backline reshuffle after coach Anthony Seibold had bit the bullet and dumped NSW centre James Roberts and winger Jamayne Isaako for the Sea Eagles clash. But it seems Seibold will be forced to inject Roberts into his side after Bird went down. The injury hit Sea Eagles also didn’t emerge unscathed. Already without more than $3 million worth of talent with Daly Cherry-Evans, Tom Trbojevic, Dylan Walker, Lachlan Croker and Jorge Taufua sidelined, Manly also lost centre Moses Suli (finger), Api Koroisau (calf) and Toafofoa Sipley (broken leg) on Friday night. Sea Eagles centre Brad Parker also copped a head knock but later returned to the field. There were alarm bells for Brisbane when skipper Boyd was again caught out defensively as Manly hooker Koroisau burrowed over from dummy half in just the ninth minute. And the Sea Eagles were unlucky not to have extended their lead with rookie winger Abbas Miski denied tries in the 20th (obstruction) and 32nd minute (forward pass). But five-eighth Milford locked up the scores at 6-6 by halftime, slicing through to score in the 35th minute after a great run by centre Kotoni Staggs. The hosts didn’t look back with winger Corey Oates (44th minute), back-rower Matt Gillett (53rd) and that man Boyd (64th) crossing to provide a welcome shot in the arm for the battling Broncos. Oates ran off a sublime Boyd cut out pass to become the first player to notch 50 tries at Suncorp Stadium. Milford set up another two tries before back-rower David Fifita iced the result with a 78th minute four pointer. BRISBANE 26 (D Boyd D Fifita M Gillett A Milford C Oates tries K Staggs 3 goals) bt MANLY 10 (J Gosiewski A Koroisau tries R Garrick goal) at Suncorp Stadium. Referee: Ben Cummins, Ziggy Przeklasa-Adamski. Crowd: 41,388. MORE TO COME. Follow all the action in our live blog below. If you can’t see it, click here.