Hunt zeroes in on Dragons lack of attack

v BYE

The Brisbane Broncos made it 3 wins on the trot after again leaving a breathless Dragons on zero for the second week in a row at Suncorp Stadium in front of 29,869 fans.

Broncos halfback Ben Hunt was outstanding for the home side having a hand in 3 of the Broncos 4 tries. He was ably assisted by his halves partner Anthony Milford and the two combined for a spectacular try in the 72nd minute where with one hand Milford spectacularly managed to re-gather a Hunt grubber, one metre from the dead ball line. The try effectively ended whatever hope the Dragons had of getting back into the contest and sent the Broncos to the top of the NRL ladder.

Much of the pre-match talk was about the lack of points St George had in 2016, after being thrashed by the Cowboys 36-0 last week and only managing to score a total of 40 points from the first 5 rounds of the season. Their performance tonight further compounded these fears that they lack the attacking prowess to be a force in this year's premiership race.

Brisbane jumped out of the blocks in the 3^rd minute, when Anthony Milford drew in two defenders and passed over the top to an unmarked Corey Oates who scored the first try of the match when he dived over in the corner untouched. Broncos captain Corey Parker hit the post with his conversion from the sideline to make it 4-0 in as many minutes.

The Broncos continued to apply the pressure, in particular attempting to minimise Dragons fullback Josh Dugan's involvement by angling their 5th tackle kicks deep into the corners, allowing him little room to move. The pressure from the Broncos continued and in the 14th minute Corey Parker made up for his earlier miss, taking the two points on offer to extend their lead to six.

In the 18th minute St George looked to have ended their try scoring drought when lock Jack De Belin powered his way over the line off the back of a strong run by centre Euan Aitken. Referee, Gerard Sutton went to the Bunker in favour of a try, however the Bunker took longer to decide than De Belin did with his hairstyle pre-match, leaving fans frustrated for a decision to be made one way or the other. The Bunker then overruled Sutton's on field try decision and the score remained 6-0.

St George then made a staggering 3 unforced errors where the side dropped 3 balls cold to hand Brisbane excellent field position. The heavy defensive workload finally took its toll, when Ben Hunt's deft grubber behind the Dragons line on the last tackle was pounced upon by second rower Alex Glenn to extend Brisbane's lead to 12-0 at halftime.

Both sides started the second half with errors, however Brisbane looked certain to score when Milford put in a grubber for a number of Broncos teammates who looked certain to score, only for Josh Dugan to come out of nowhere to snatch the ball and save a certain try.

The Dragons had plenty of chances to get on the scoreboard, however again unforced errors in good field position were their worst enemy and an unlucky penalty for an accidental offside after a James Roberts break allowed Corey Parker to extend the lead to 14 points.

From there the Dragons never got back into the contest and in the 72nd minute, Anthony Milford's freakish try ended any hopes of hopes of a miracle comeback from the Red V.

A minute later the Broncos put an exclamation point on the victory, when halfback Ben Hunt drew in two defenders and threw a sublime flick pass to winger Jordan Kahu who scored in the corner. Corey Parker converted from the sideline to end the score at 26-0 and reside the Dragons to their second loss in a row without scoring a point.

The Broncos return to Suncorp Stadium next week where they host the Newcastle Knights on Saturday night, while the Dragons now finish their Queensland tour against the Gold Coast Titans.