Seibold in awe of game-saving tackle by Haas
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If the Broncos make the finals by one competition point they will be congratulating prop Payne Haas for a last-ditch tackle in extra time that secured an 18-all draw against the Warriors at Suncorp Stadium.
The 19-year-old was on fire early in the game on the way to scoring a try and wreaking havoc through the middle and his massive engine and commitment was on show in the 87th minute when Roger Tuivasa-Sheck broke through and found Chanel Harris-Tavita in support and certain to score.
Haas appeared out of nowhere to make the tackle a metre from the tryline and secure one vital competition point for Brisbane.
The NSW Origin representative ran for 201m in 17 blockbusting runs and made 41 tackles, with his effort late on the one that had coach Anthony Seibold in raptures.
"Both sides came here on equal points and both fighting to stay in the competition so there was a lot of effort off the footy, so I talk to the guys about ‘movement off the footy’ and there was no better example than Payne Haas running down Harris-Tavita at the back end of the game," Seibold said.
"It was a special tackle ... and he is a special player. That tackle at the death showed that. He kept moving just in case and ran down a half in Harris-Tavita.
Match: Broncos v Warriors
Round 17 -
home Team
Broncos
13th Position
away Team
Warriors
12th Position
Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
"His carries were really strong and defensively he was really strong. We had 43 per cent of the footy and normally when you have that much possession you are behind on the scoreboard. Payno put in a really good performance."
The Broncos, now on 15 Telstra Premiership points and just three points outside the top eight, showed great fight to claw their way back from a 16-6 deficit at half-time.
Both sides had their chances in a helter skelter 10 minutes of extra time with three field goal attempts by Brisbane, one by James Segeyaro and two by Anthony Milford, missing.
Seibold joked that he had aged about five years before he sat down for his post-match presser where the first question was "how is your blood pressure?”.
"You certainly age on a night like tonight," he chuckled.
"There are a couple of things that stood out for me tonight. We didn’t have much footy, and had limited good ball, but the boys just kept hanging in.
"We fought really hard in the second half and we fought really hard in extra time. There are a couple of things we can do better but we have a short turnaround into the Bulldogs game [on Thursday night] now so we need to recover. We’ll review that game in the morning and dump it pretty quick.”
Haas leaves Warriors sprawled out on the ground on way to line
Seibold said both sides showed desperation and a lot of effort off the football and that he was "really proud" of his team.
"It was tough to watch because there were some things we could have done better but if we keep turning up like that, like we did last Sunday against the Sharks, then we are heading in the right direction," he said.
"There was a lot of passion there. The boys are really disappointed which is a good thing I think.
"We aren’t happy because we didn’t get the result but there were a couple of areas I was really happy with, particularly our effort."
Seibold said there was some good news on the injury front with Matt Gillett (groin) and Corey Oates (niggle) set to return next week and half Tom Dearden (ankle) not far away.
"'Gillo’ had a run yesterday and will have another rehab run tomorrow. We thought Corey would get up but he had some niggling injuries so Herbie Farnworth got another opportunity," Seibold said.
"I think Corey and Gillo’ will both be right for Thursday night. Tom did his first run on the grass today after he was on the Alter G the last couple of sessions. He won’t play against the Dogs but he could be right the following week."
