Brisbane coach Anthony Seibold tossed up nearly every word possible to describe the side's 58-0 capitulation to Parramatta and declared it was going to be a very long off-season for the club.
Just a week after declaring the Eels would beat them convincingly if the Broncos dished out a similar performance to last week's loss to the Bulldogs, he was left to front up to a packed media conference just minutes after his men conceded a whopping 11 tries in the record-breaking defeat.
The loss is expected to come with massive ramifications with Seibold indicating a club review from "top to bottom" was required at Red Hill following the shut-out result.
"I'm disappointed … embarrassed, I can't toss up any excuses for that," Seibold said.
"I'll take responsibility as head coach. I'm the head coach so I'll cop it. They let each other down, they let the club down.
"I got a whiff of it last week leading into the Bulldogs game. Maybe I was too optimistic. It was men against boys today, it was embarrassing."
Seibold: I won't apologise
Seibold said he barely addressed the players after the clash, ordering them to front on Wednesday morning for an expected post-season chat both individually and as a group.
He even went as far as questioning his own position as coach when asked what message should be sent to their supporter base following a result of heavy nature.
"It was embarrassing, what else do you want me to say?" Seibold said.
"I'm not going to apologise. I've worked damn hard this year. I've tried my best, if I'm not good enough then I'd rather be in the arena failing than standing outside throwing stones.
"I've tried to work hard and improve the group. We want winners. We want people who want to work hard and win. It's going to be a long off season and pre-season. We're miles away."
Seibold wouldn't be drawn into what sort of changes needed to be made but insisted the club's youth who showed positive signs throughout the season offered him a glimmer of hope.
The Broncos bounced back from 14th spot on the Telstra Premiership ladder midway through the year to reach the finals before their inglorious exit.
"It's not the right time to talk about [changes], I'll have a good look at thing and see what we can do," Seibold said.
"Everyone can see our deficiencies so I won't talk about that now. We've got some real good kids coming through, if there is something that gives me hope it's that.
"They've learnt a hard lesson today. That gives me a lot of optimism going through but we're a million miles off.
Match Highlights: Eels v Broncos
"We need to have a good look, that's the reality. We're in a sport we want to win. We're not here to make up the numbers and come eighth every year.
"Everything's on the table. I need to try and fix this.
"In a big game under pressure we folded. We talked a good game earlier in the week and that was it. We threw it in today."