Broncos coach Kevin Walters was reluctant to be too despondent despite admitting his side were flat and Souths made them cop their own medicine in their 32-6 loss at Suncorp Stadium.
Walters believes the Broncos started the game strong, but couldn’t match a ruthless Souths outfit as the game wore on.
“It was a tough night,” Walters said.
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South Sydney Rabbitohs Press Conference | 04:23
“I thought we started OK but then we just on the slippery slide for most of the match.
“Even at half-time we had some good field position, we just didn’t take a couple of our opportunities.
“We paid for it in the end by not building any scoreboard pressure and the longer the game went the worse we got.”
Walters conceded the suspended Payne Haas was some big shoes to fill and the Broncos got a taste of what they have been dishing out by Souths.
“I thought we were OK there,” Walters said of the battle of the middle.
“I mean Payne is the best prop in the game, so we are always going to miss him, but I thought we were OK there.
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“They just tackled better than us and were more enthusiastic. We made it hard on ourselves.
“But what they did to us we have been doing to teams for the last eight weeks, so it was our turn to cop a bit of medicine, which we will cop it.
“But we are Round 9 of 27 rounds so good lessons learned tonight and we will get ready for next week.”
Despite the heavy loss on the scoreboard, Walters believes his side created enough chances early, but admitted his side were flat coming into half-time.
“You have to grab your opportunities,” Walters said.
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Murray sent to the bin inside 5 minutes! | 00:59
“Souths have been a good side for a long time now and they showed up tonight with a good mentality and they played better than us.
“We got what we deserved and they got what they deserved.
“It just a learning curve.
“Sometimes you can’t always score and create scoreboard pressure, but you have just got to get that mentality.
“Even at half-time I thought we were well and truly in the game. It was only 12-6 but we were pretty flat at half-time so that is never a good sign.”
Broncos skipper Adam Reynolds was involved in a few heated battles with his old teammates, but wasn’t getting too worries about the loss at this stage of the season.
“No it is not (a good feeling), but it is Round 9,” Reynolds said.
“It is a learning curve. You win or you learn and we certainly learnt a lesson tonight.
“It is never easy sitting in a losing changeroom, but it makes us hungrier to go back and work harder at training and put that into practice next week.”
Reynolds paid tribute to former teammate Campbell Graham after his hat-trick and had no doubt he could do a job for the Blues in origin.
“He is a quality player, he played for Australia, so I think that answers the question,” Reynolds said.
“He is solid every week. You know what you are going to get from Campbell. He is a quality player. A great person and great for a team.
“He certainly wouldn’t look out of place in a Blues jersey.”
