The Brisbane Broncos have taken victory in an NRL classic over the Sydney Roosters by 28-22 in a game that brought a bit of everything to the 29,000 fans at Suncorp Stadium.
The opening minutes threw a spanner in the works for the Broncos with Tom Opacic having to leave the field after just five minutes after getting his head into the wrong position making a tackle on Blake Ferguson meaning debutant Kotoni Staggs was on the field alot earlier than expected. The move of bringing Staggs on was a good one with the 19 year old making an impact straight away when his quick catch and pass set up Corey Oates in the corner who gave the Broncos the first four pointer after the bunker confirmed that Oates grounded the ball.
The end to end Football continued and it was the Roosters who got on the board next when Luke Keary threw a long ball to Latrell Mitchell who drew in James Roberts before passing to Joseph Manu who streaked down the touchline before finding Keary who started the play to score and give the Roosters the lead following the conversion. Things didn't calm down one bit out there and if anything they intensified before the Broncos hit back when the debutant got on the board.
The Broncos second try was again down to hard running when Tevita Pangai broke the line and found an offload for Kotoni Staggs who was backing up and got brough down short but crawled to the line to get his first NRL try. The see-saw battle continued with both sides going end to end but it was the Roosters again who managed to fight back with a repeat of their first try with Luke Keary throwing a ball to Latrell Mitchell who broke through the line after bumping off a James Roberts tackle and finding Luke Keary who finished the play he started.
The second half started the way the first did with plenty of action including Jared Waerea-Hargreaves being put on report for a late hit on Anthony Milford after he threw the ball. The Broncos could've leveled things from 42m out but hit the post. Again the hits came out but just eight minutes later the Broncos took an advantage of a scrum on the Roosters ten when James Roberts got one back on Latrell Mitchell when Roberts beat his opposing centre before finding Isaako who scored untouched in the corner.
The momentum looked to shift to the Broncos but the Roosters managed to again fightback off the back of three consectuive penalties in a row when Isaac Liu got over the line to score and a missed conversion from Latrell Mitchell became telling.
The fireworks soon flared up again when James Roberts created something out of nothing from the middle of the field to get on the outside of the Roosters defence and streak away to level the scores with 10 to go. The fireworks were only getting started with Dylan Napa controversially sent to the sin bin for "leading with the head" in a tackle on Korbin Sims who was left on the ground. The Broncos set up for a field goal in consecutive sets in attack but the second one saw Isaako set for the shot before running the ball through some poor defence and getting to the line to give the Broncos the lead.
Although the clock read under a minute, the Roosters had a chance after getting the short kick off back and two penalties inside the final seconds saw them with a 12 on 12 chance after Tevita Pangai Junior was sent to the sin bin for deliberately kicking the ball out of the ruck just before the siren. The Roosters tried to get the four pointer but the Broncos defence stood tough and made sure they held onto their victory.
Next week, the Roosters take on the Gold Coast Titans in a home game at the Central Coast Stadium whilst the Broncos host the Parramatta Eels at Suncorp next weekend.