The Broncos clearly had enough.
The club was spotted doing a bizarre halftime warm-up during its Friday night loss to the Dragons – a dramatic reaction to the club’s second-half surrenders in recent months.
Exceptional footage of Broncos players warming up at Suncorp Stadium after a grueling first half against the Dragons left rugby icons Paul Vautin and Johnathan Thurston astonished.
Kayo is your ticket to the NRL Telstra Premiership 2020. Every game of every round Live & On-Demand with no commercial breaks during the game. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial and start streaming right away>
Cameras in the locker room revealed that Bronco’s assistant coach Peter Gentle only spoke to his players for a few minutes at halftime before the players began catching and passing exercises, which included an exercise where the players had strong contact with one another.
In the middle of the most miserable season in the club’s history, desperate times lead to desperate actions.
Even considering the Broncos faded out in the second half that year, Vautin and Thurston couldn’t believe what they saw during Channel 9’s halftime break.
“I had to ask if this was live,” Thurston told Channel 9.
“This is a half-time break. Usually, you want to catch your breath and make sure everyone is calm and ready for the second half.
“I couldn’t believe the scenes I just saw.”
Vautin said after the game, players need to relax at half time and not be forced back on their feet without a break.
“I’ve been playing and watching for 50 years. I’ve never seen this at halftime in a dressing room,” he said.
“Halfway through is a time to relax, unwind, a breath of oxygen, a trip to the toilet, but not that, that’s incredible.
“You came out and tried for the first four minutes, but don’t do your exercises at half time, relax.
“It’s time to relax and prepare for the next 40 minutes.”
Fox League commentator Michael Ennis said the half-time warm-up was understandable given the club’s poor track record of falling asleep in the second half of this season’s games.
“After a few surrenders in the second half, which we will go into in a moment, we saw the Brisbane Broncos warm up intensely for two minutes, where they were on their feet again, wrestling and getting the ball through their hands” , he said.
“Gentle only spoke to them for a short time before they got back on their feet. They also made heavy contact in preparation for this. “
It seemed to be paying off for the Broncos when Star Center Kotoni Staggs scored an incredible 75-yard effort in just three minutes in the second half.
Bronco’s assistant coach Peter Gentle said after the game: “Whether it does something, it’s just something else. Just to realign it … We wanted to be there at the end of the game and have a chance to win it, and we did. “
Despite the solid performance, the Broncos again lagged as the Dragons claimed a thrilling 28:24 win after Staggs set the NRL world on fire with a crazy solo attempt.
After he had relocated far to Staggs, the center beat his counterpart Euan Aitken with a brutal defense.
Then he shrugged before a dummy sent Dragons full-back Matt Dufty the wrong way when Staggs scored an incredible try.
Incredibly, Staggs is the Broncos’ top scorer with eight attempts, despite having only played nine games this season.
.