The Brisbane Broncos have completed a stunning comeback from 18-0 down to beat Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs 22-18 at the Sydney Olympic stadium on Friday night.
With an hour gone the Bulldogs were cruising to victory, leading 18-0 against a Broncos side that looked completely bereft of ideas.
Marcelo Montoya, Matt Burton and Viliame Kikau had all scored in a dominant first half display.
But on the hour mark, Broncos winger Josiah Karapani scored to spark Brisbane into life — and the Bulldogs completely capitulated.
Broncos stars Selwyn Cobbo, Ezra Mam, Adam Reynolds and replacement hooker Billy Waters in his 100th NRL match exploded into life, all playing roles as Delouise Hoeter, Walters and finally Brendan Piakura all crossed to complete a remarkable turnaround.
“Unbelievable,” Kobe Hetherington told ABC Sport.
“We just had that belief the last three games.
“With our big dogs out, everyone stepped up.”
Both teams were missing multiple stars due to Origin — four each for the Bulldogs and Broncos — but at first it appeared the Broncos were missing their stars more as a lacklustre display was punished by the Bulldogs.
The Broncos only managed four play the balls in the Bulldogs 20 in that first half, showing little signs they would be able to turn the tide.
“Believe it or not, I actually did [believe],” Broncos coach Michael Maguire said, when asked if he thought the comeback was on post-match.
“I knew it was going to be a challenge but the players spoke really well at half-time and they went out and delivered exactly what they said.
“I knew there was a fair bit of belief around the group.”
His counterpart Cameron Ciraldo, however, was “filthy” that his team didn’t learn from the mistakes of last week.
“There was some really good stuff in the first half … to get to 18-0 was good,” Ciraldo said.
“But that wasn’t good enough that last quarter of the game.
“Momentum totally shifted and we weren’t good enough to get it back.
“A really disappointing finish.”
The biggest talking point pre-game was the late promotion of Lachlan Galvin to the starting line up to partner Toby Sexton, who announced earlier in the day that he would depart the Bulldogs to join Catalan Dragons in the Super League for 2026.
That pushed Matt Burton into centre, once again raising questions over how Galvin fits into this side that had risen to second on the NRL ladder thanks to Burton and Sexton’s partnership at halfback.
Galvin had some good moments, playing a hand in one of the Bulldogs tries in the first half, but Burton continued to do the majority of the kicking and was arguably the Bulldogs best in the first half.
All bets were off in the second though as Mam, Reynolds and Cobbo picked up their games.
Cobbo had been criticised in the first half by Cooper Cronk as being “not dialled in” on commentary for Fox Sports.
But in the second he exploded on the game.
“Once he [Cobbo] put his head down and started to run, he started to terrorise the boys in front of him,” Maguire said post-match.
Earlier, the Bulldogs’ NRLW team made their competition bow with a brilliant 26-12 victory over the two-time premiers, Newcastle.
Moana Courtenay and Ashleigh Quinlan scored a try each in both halves, with Angelina Teakaraanga-Katoa also getting on the scoresheet.
Georgia Roche’s first half try kept the Knights in it at 6-10 at the break, but by the time Botille Vette-Welsh crossed with 15 minutes to go the result was already assured.
Bulldogs halfback and co-captain Tayla Preston, who had a try assist and 454 kicking metres, admitted to being tearful after pulling on the Bulldogs jersey for the first time.
“It gives me goosebumps,” Preston told ABC Sport.
“I had a few tears in my eyes when I got to pull this jumper on earlier tonight.
“My family grew up here so this club is so special to me. I just wanted to repay the faith they put in us.”
