The Brisbane Broncos have snapped a two-game losing streak with a resounding 30-10 win over the South Sydney Rabbitohs at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.
Having struggled through the State of Origin period, Brisbane roared back into form on the back of a dominant backline performance despite losing centre Jordan Kahu midway through the first half with a suspected pec injury.
The Rabbitohs were dealt a huge blow before kick-off with halfback Adam Reynolds ruled out with a quad strain and it showed with their attack failing to click throughout the contest.
It took just five minutes for the Broncos to get on the board with a perfectly-weighted pass from Darius Boyd sending Lachlan Maranta over to expose the Rabbitohs' inexperienced left-edge defence.
A Sam Thaiday error gifted the hosts a chance to respond, and right on cue Luke Keary dummied his way over from close range to level the scores after 12 minutes.
Parity was short-lived as a Tom Burgess error from the kick-off put the Broncos straight back on the attack to allow halfback Ben Hunt to step his way through for his first try since Round 8 – also against the Rabbitohs.
Poor handling was killing the Bunnies, and another knock on – this time by Walker – resulted in a spectacular try to Corey Oates in the left corner to open up a 12-point lead inside 20 minutes.
Brisbane looked to have extended their advantage early in the second stanza when Maranta strolled over for his second but the play was called back after a forward pass from Hunt.
The Broncos winger was again denied 10 minutes later after putting a foot on the sideline following some terrific play on the inside from Hunt and James Roberts.
With his outside-man seemingly cursed, Roberts decided to do it all himself in the 55th minute, stepping off his right foot and fending away from two would-be defenders to jet his way over the line to make it 24-6.
Maranta then had another try called back for a forward pass, but there would be no such problems for his fellow winger as Oates intercepted an Aaron Gray pass to race 90 metres to claim his 12th try of the season.
Having been held scoreless for almost an hour, the Rabbitohs grabbed their second of the night through fullback Cody Walker to give the 13,111 fans in attendance something to cheer about.
Broncos 30 (Corey Oates 2, Lachlan Maranta, Ben Hunt, James Roberts, tries; Jordan Kahu 3, Anthony Milford 2 goals) defeated Rabbitohs 10 (Luke Keary, Cody Walker tries; Cody Walker goal) at ANZ Stadium. Half-time: 18-6 Broncos. Crowd: 13,111. On report: Andrew McCullough (high tackle).
