Renouf: Less panic, more patience key to Broncos breaking the drought

The key to breaking a losing streak is to keep it simple. Get back to basics. Focus on segments of the game and have the patience to stick to your plan.

If the first two weeks of the season has taught us anything, it’s that Brisbane have the ability to score points, but they’re still lacking in a few small areas.

Here are four key elements the Broncos need to focus on to get the job done this week against Canterbury and break their 13-game losing streak.

Soft defence

Even Pat Carrigan admitted after the Titans loss that some of the tries they conceded were soft. As a team, Brisbane have probably been the worst at it for a year now.

If a team scores a great try, well sometimes there isn’t much you can do about that. But if they’re soft tries, that is inexcusable and a few of those tries the Titans scored last week were inexcusable.

Jarrod Wallace pushed his way over, David Fifita just did a spin and virtually went over untouched. It’s just about making the commitment in defence.

They’re the little efforts that are missing. It’s not on one person, they’ve all got to be accountable for their efforts and contact in defence.

Panic under pressure

It looks to me that when teams put Brisbane under pressure their first reaction is they get desperate and panic.

For the majority of the game they’re solid, but they just get 10 minute periods where they are panicking and that’s a mentality they need to break.

Sometimes it’s a pushed pass, a dropped ball or a defender rushing out of the line. But it’s panic, then it snowballs and the next minute the whole team looks disjointed and the opposition runs in one try and then another and the game is gone.

In a team that is going well sometimes you can get away with trying for the miracle play, but that is not where this team is at. Brisbane don’t have the players to get away with it. They just need to hold strong, be patient and weather the storm in that moment.  

Trust that the tide will turn if they execute the game plan. Don’t look for the short cut.

Leadership

Leadership is on every player. Yes Alex Glenn is the skipper and he needs to show the way, but it’s not just on him to step up in those tough moments.

I’m not sure if Anthony Milford is much of a talker on the field, but he has been there long enough to know what’s going on and he needs to step up as one of Brisbane’s best players.

You want leaders in those little moments when you’re under the pump and I still think that is something missing but it is also something they can work on. This is Brisbane’s opportunity.

We will learn who are the future leaders of this club with how they perform in the coming weeks.

Break it down

The key to ending a losing streak is you need to break the game down into segments. There are crucial times within a game and we used to always concentrate on those smaller segments to build an 80-minute game.

For Brisbane, it’s just 10 minutes in each game that has cost them. And it’s either been the 10 minutes before or after half-time that has hurt them most. I’m sure they know that and it will be the main focus this week.

If you finish the half on top and then start the next half on top again, it can make or break a game.

To go in at half-time with confidence, then come out and dominate them first up in the second half you can put the opposition behind the eight-ball very quickly and from there it’s hard to get back.

This team is no different, they can score tries. They just need to make sure they don’t put themselves under pressure by making mistakes or panicking in those 10 minutes either side of half-time.

The views in this article do not necessarily express the opinions of the NRL, ARL Commission, NRL clubs or state associations.