Broncos canter to finals win over Warriors
Farewells for Darren Lockyer will last at least another week after the Broncos downed New Zealand Warriors 40-10 in their NRL finals clash at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night.
Judging by Brisbane's dominance, Lockyer's swansong season looks like lasting a few more weeks yet.
In a confidence-boosting performance led by "generation next", the Broncos downed the Warriors seven tries to two in front of a near capacity crowd of 48,943.
It was hard to tell who was more surprised by the lop-sided result - Warriors coach Ivan Cleary or Broncos mentor Anthony Griffin.
"I was not expecting that scoreline," Griffin said.
"But we don't want to get too carried away - next week it is sudden death.
"Everyone did their job and now we have to freshen up and get ready for next week."
Asked if he could explain the Warriors' sorry effort, Cleary said: "Nope.
"We did not build any pressure whatsoever by halftime - and the only positive was that we were down only 18-0 (at the main break)."
Solemn Warriors captain Simon Mannering was also at a loss: "Preparation was good, feeling was good - I can't put my finger on it but hopefully we are not finishing our season like that."
The Warriors - who finished sixth after the regular season - must now rely on other results to remain in the finals mix.
In an ominous warning, Lockyer said the Broncos could only get better.
"The last few weeks we have been patchy with our footy - tonight we held onto the ball a lot better and got the points - if we keep our completions high we give ourselves a chance," he said.
For a side that arrived on a six-game winning run, the odds still seemed to be stacked against the Broncos.
They were reeling from the loss of barnstorming backrower Sam Thaiday (suspension) and livewire fullback Josh Hoffman (knee).
Oh, and then there was their shocking 1-6 finals record at the ground.
But it mattered little to a young Broncos outfit seemingly hell-bent on sending their inspirational skipper Lockyer out a winner.
The Broncos were wary of the Warriors after escaping with a last gasp 21-20 win over the Kiwi outfit at the same Brisbane venue barely five weeks ago.
However, the rest of the competition is now officially on notice after the Broncos' young guns fired.
Man-of-the-moment Lockyer helped himself to a try as Brisbane jumped to a 18-0 halftime lead.
But it was the Broncos' Department of Youth that came of age in the second stanza.
Backrowers Matt Gillett, Ben Te'o and Alex Glenn and veteran Corey Parker were standouts in an inspired Broncos pack.
The Warriors tried to keep things interesting when impressive backrower Feleti Mateo crossed in the 59th and winger Manu Vatuvei did his best to turn around an otherwise butter-fingered display by scoring in the 67th to make it 24-10.
But it only prompted the Broncos to score three tries in five minutes through Andrew McCullough (71st), Justin Hodges (73rd) and Gerard Beale (76th).
Adding further insult, Warriors prop Sam Rapira was placed on report for a driving tackle on McCullough.
One week after a sold out Suncorp Stadium bid farewell to Lockyer in his regular season finale at the ground, Brisbane may yet provide one last hurrah to the veteran pivot next weekend depending on other results.
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