NRL 2021: Brisbane Broncos Season Review

The Broncos bounced back from their wooden spoon to finish the 2021 NRL season at 14th but looked a lot better by the end of the year for Kevin Walters to earn a pass mark.

Here’s your Brisbane Season Review for 2021:

• The Season In Brief: Stats and Summary
• Takeaways From 2021
  • Things I Liked: Fullback talent, Kobe Hetherington, Clogging up the middle
  • 3-2-1: Herbie Farnworth, Pretty Riki, Jake Turpin
  • Summer Notepad: Passing Payne Haas
• Preseason Prediction Throwback
• Way Too Early Thoughts On 2022

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The Season In Brief

We’re summing up the NRL season in a few words before getting into the nitty-gritty and breaking down some of the key moments in 2021.

By The Numbers

Awful in attack (14th) and defence (13th) the Broncos made it difficult for themselves all year. Running for just 1,558 metres per game (14th) translated into an NRL-low 22 tackles inside the opposition 20-metre line per game. That lack of charge through the middle resulted in an average of just 47.5% possession across 2021. In a season in which the premiers are defined by their patience in possession, the Broncos didn’t do themselves any favours with their lack of respect for the football.

Copy: Bar Chart
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The Season In 200 Words

On paper, it wasn’t a successful first season in charge for new head coach Kevin Walters.

Seven wins and 17 losses isn’t a great record, but winning competitions is only a realistic goal for a select few teams. Walters was tasked with rebuilding the club’s culture, and in that, you could argue he has been successful. Three wins from their last seven games saw Brisbane finish the season playing a far more cohesive and competitive brand of footy.
The turnstile edge defence of 2019-20 patched itself up as the season went on and once combinations were given a chance to form in the spine, Brisbane managed to score a few points themselves.

The Brodie Croft experiment finally ended with Tyson Gamble and Albert Kelly preferred in the halves as this season progressed. Gamble in particular was a revelation at a time where Brisbane were under criticism for their defensive enthusiasm. Tesi Niu took his chance at fullback and Herbie Farnworth locked down a centre spot. Pat Carrigan’s injury allowed Jordan Riki, TC Robati and Kobe Hetherington to impress while Payne Haas continued on his incredible trajectory as arguably the game’s best prop.

Some might call 2021 a pass – just.

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Takeaways From 2021

Things I Liked

Jason picks out a few moments, matches or players that he liked most throughout the 2021 NRL season.

Fullback Talent

The Broncos have lost a lot of talent. Too much. Still, plenty remains and they will have some exciting young players to build around in the coming years.

Tesi Niu and Selwyn Cobbo are two players I’m especially interested in seeing next season.

Niu’s footwork is electric. He hasn’t been given too many opportunities in promising attacking positions given Brisbane’s struggles to get up the field and into good ball areas (they averaged an NRL-low 22 tackles inside the opposition 20-metre line per game), but Niu displayed enough throughout the year to suggest he should be given another crack at the back to start 2022.

He’s an active fullback around the ruck. His support play is one of the best parts of his game and he displayed it all against the Sharks in Round 16.

I covered a bit more on how the Broncos put this try together at the time.

“Niu pops up from behind the dummy half and hits the gap between the A defender and marker here. That throws some uncertainty into the line which provides TC Robati with just enough space to get his arms through the line to offload the football. Kotoni Staggs draws the fullback and Niu finishes it off.” – NRL Repeat Set: Round 16

But Niu will need to out-perform Cobbo in the preseason if he’s to slot straight into the #1 jersey.

The 19-year-old only played seven games this season and didn’t look particularly dangerous while scoring two tries and averaging 103 running metres per game. However, he took that first-grade experience back into the Intrust Super Cup to finish the season on a high. Outstanding to end the year and close to winning it all for the Wynnum-Manly Seagulls, Cobbo put together an attractive highlight’s package that the Broncos coaching staff will need to consider when thinking about their fullback for 2022.

This run ended in an error but it’s all of the skill before that should be considered.

First, it’s the catch. He lands and puts his foot down, straight through a gap and into the backfield. He casts one defender aside with a left-hand fend before switching hands and pushing another away with his right. To have the awareness is one thing. To do it at speed and to execute it is another.

Cobbo might benefit from spending more time on the wing to start his first-grade career. A spell in the centres is an option, too. Regardless, Walters has two very good young fullbacks to work with heading into next season.

Kobe Hetherington

It took Walters 15 rounds to realise he had a very good lock forward in Kobe Hetherington sitting in the stands or on the bench to start the season, but he got there in the end. The concern now is he will put Pat Carrigan straight into the #13 jersey to start next season which will see a return to the ball getting stuck in the middle and Aiden Tolman-like runs stalling momentum towards the end of a set. However, Hetherington put forward a strong case to start in Round 1 while starting at lock across the last nine rounds of the season.

He’s not a guy that is going to jump off the stats pages or ride Supercoach hype to popularity, but Hetherington is exactly the sort of middle forward the Broncos need right now. Strong in defence and skilful enough with the ball thanks to his experience as a hooker, he’s the consistent and solid player the Broncos can rely on to complete his role regardless of how limited it might be.

In an area of the field the Broncos really struggled on both sides of the ball, Hetherington stood out as a reliable performer in the middle moving forward.

Clogging Up The Middle

The Broncos finished the season well to pick up a couple of good wins while keeping their losses a lot closer than they were earlier in the year. Their improvement started with valuing the football which translated into a better middle.

Brisbane lost the yardage battle by an average of close to 350 metres per game across the first 17 rounds of the season. While they still fell roughly 100m behind the opposition in yardage from Round 18 onwards, it was a significant improvement and proved to this side that they can compete through the middle.

The Broncos averaged 1,503 running metres per game from Round 1 to 17 – 15th in the NRL. From Round 18 to 25, they averaged 1,630 metres per game which would put them up to 10th across the full season.

Adam Reynolds is an excellent addition to the side and provides them with the leadership and game management that has been lacking in recent years. However, he needs a platform to dominate behind. The last eight rounds of the season is the sort of platform the Broncos need to lay 24 times in 2022.

~ Jason

3-2-1

True rugby league fans will know there’s nothing more legitimate than the Dally M’s 3-2-1 voting system…With that in mind, Oscar picks out three elements from the 2021 season that deserve a mention.

3 – Herbie Farnworth

In a season where strike outside back Kotoni Staggs managed just four games through injury and suspension, his centre partner Herbie Farnworth stepped up big time. 

As per FoxSports Lab, Farnworth’s 131 average running metres ranks him the third-best among full-time centres in 2021 competition wide. Throw in ten line breaks and 56 tackle breaks and Farnworth was one of the more consistent running threats for Brisbane this season while the backline constantly changed around him.

That being said, the stats sheet isn’t an accurate way to measure Farnworth’s influence on this Broncos team in 2021. Throughout the season he was responsible for a number of positive actions in attack that should have led to points if his teammates could only convert the opportunities on the following tackle. 

This action against the Cowboys in Round Nine sums it up best. 

The in-and-away Farnworth puts on Connelly Lemuelu here is as good as you’ll see in the NRL. Lemuelu doesn’t even get a hand on Farnworth as he skips to the outside here and with a burst of speed Farnworth streaks into the backfield. He’s a wonderful runner of the ball and his strength through the hips allows him to swerve without losing speed and push through contact like he does with Valentine Holmes here. The cover defence manages to drag him down but the damage had been done and North Queensland were there to be scored on. 

Instead, the Broncos managed this.

No shape. No effort to involve the wrecking ball that is Tevita Pangai Jnr waiting out wide. Just three long, flat passes that herds Jesse Arthars towards the sideline and all of Farnworth’s excellent work is immediately undone. 

I’m backing Adam Reynolds and Kotoni Staggs to execute this a little better in 2022.

It won’t count as a try contribution for Farnworth on the stats sheet but this is the kind of action I’ll be looking out for next season. In Farnworth and Staggs, the Broncos have genuine strike attacking centres on either side of the field. They now also have the ballplayer in Reynolds to make the most of them. If either centre can bust a few tackles or make a half break there is going to be space for the other to do some damage on the following play. 

2 – Pretty Riki

David Fifita is a tough act to follow but you could argue Jordan Riki has had a better year than the man he was tasked with replacing in 2021. 

He burst onto the scene as a tackle-busting backrower but what impressed me most about Riki this season was his defence. In just 18 games played this year Riki was the Broncos’ third busiest defender behind Alex Glenn and Jake Turpin with 600 tackles and a 93.8% tackle efficiency. Playing on an edge and with a host of different halves beside him, Riki was a defensive presence all season. His 55 one-on-one tackles was the fourth most by fulltime backrowers in 2021 and it has him in good stead heading into next year. There is still plenty of room for improvement with his positioning and decision making but the foundations of a reliable defensive backrower are there to see. 

It’s in attack that we definitely haven’t seen the best of Riki yet.

Tyson Gamble developed a promising combination with Riki in the back end of the year and with his halves finally constructing positive situations to get him involved, Riki had a few highlight moments of his own. 

Ballplayers engaging the defence with multiple options around him is something we saw more of from Brisbane in the back half of the season as combinations were allowed to gel. It’s the difference here between Riki getting gang tackled and him carrying the ball 40 metres upfield. Tesi Niu sweeps energetically out the back which gets the attention of Javid Bowen and affords Riki a one-on-one opportunity with Scott Drinkwater.

Riki won that contest comprehensively and did so again later in the match. 

This is a repeatable action that the Broncos did not repeat often enough in 2021. That’s unlikely to be the case in 2022 with Adam Reynolds calling the shots and a settled spine (injury permitting) combining around him. Riki, in particular, feels like a player that will benefit from an elite playmaker who can pass him into good positions on the field and it’s something I’ll be looking out for next year. 

1 – Jake Turpin

As someone who is keener than most on Jake Turpin, he’s a player with huge upside heading into next season. He’s approaching 50 first grade games and for the first time in his NRL career Turpin will have a genuine halfback and a settled spine around him in 2022. 

Turpin has all the skills to be a top-tier NRL hooker. Defensively he is hugely underrated – per FoxSports Lab his 92% tackle efficiency ranks him as the fourth best among hookers with 10+ games at dummy-half this season while NRL.com has him 96.9%. Despite playing only 22 games – most of them not as an 80 minute hooker – Turpin finished the season with the 7th most tackles of any player in the competition (904 – 41.1 avg). 

He’s also a fair kicker of the ball. Three forced drop-outs and 1000+ kick metres (third most by fulltime hookers) this season aren’t incredible numbers but they show he has the skill set to at least threaten the defence with a nudge from dummy-half every now and then. He’s unlikely to kick as often with Adam Reynolds in the side next year but it’s a point of difference Kevin Walters can use if he chooses. 

Turpin is also a playmaking threat around the ruck. The subtleties of his ballplaying from dummy-half are as understated as they are important to the way Payne Haas and the likes worked upfield in 2021. He has good vision and knows how to engage markers to isolate his forward runners one-on-one with the defence. 

Turpin makes actions like this look easy.

He holds the ball out in front and positions his body in such a way that David Fifita follows him infield here while Sam McIntyre (second marker) sits on his heels. With a quick swerve Turpin passes back across the ruck to Tevita Pangai Jnr who makes easy metres against a stagnant defensive line to get the Broncos out of trouble.

Next season feels like it could be a breakout year for Turpin. He’s probably been asked to do a little too much in this Broncos side to date but with an established halfback in Reynolds steering the ship Turpin will be freed up to pick his moments in attack. He’s got the forward pack to orchestrate some points around the ruck and he’s quick enough to go himself if there’s some speed around the ruck.

~ Oscar

Summer Notepad

The NRL Notepad is a feature that has run all season. With the 2021 campaign wrapped up, we’re starting to think about what we’d like to see between now and March next year.

Passing Payne Haas

Middle forwards being able to pass the ball is crucial to an NRL attack. The new rules have put a focus on compressing the middle before shifting it wide, and having a forward in the middle that can act as a link between the hooker and half is key.

If Payne Haas starts to be that middle forward – lookout.