Round 24, 2023: Brisbane 54 Parramatta 10

Moses hurt as Broncos hammer Eels

The Broncos have locked up a top four spot after powering to a 54-10 win over the Eels which leaves the latter's finals hopes hanging by a thread.

It was a night at The Gabba which couldn't have gone much worse for last year's beaten grand finalists, who now face an uphill battle to be part of the post season and may have to try and do so without their representative halfback Mitchell Moses.

Moses suffered a suspected facial fracture in the first half and failed to play any of the second half, while second-rower Andrew Davey also didn't play beyond the 46th minute after failing a HIA.

Brisbane on the other hand were all smiles after arguably their best performance of the year and now head into the bye in Round 25 with their pursuit of the minor premiership well and truly alive.

A stunning piece of work from Reece Walsh and Kurt Capewell down the short side, which resulted in an Adam Reynolds try, set the tone for the night early on and over the next 20 minutes Brisbane scored three more tries to lead 24-0 at the break.

First Billy Walters and Deine Mariner got the first of their personal doubles, before Herbie Farnworth jogged backwards into the in-goal area for a try two minutes from the half, after shaking out of a brave attempted tackle from Moses, who by that stage already appeared to have suffered his injury.

The home side simply couldn't put a foot wrong and after retaining possession by overturning an on-field call with a captain's challenge, they sent Mariner flying over for his second early in the second period.

Ezra Mam then jumped on a Capewell offload and danced over, before Walters supported up the middle to grab an in-field kick and secure his first career double.

To their credit the Eels did get over for two late consolation tries through Sean Russell and Dylan Brown, but a Kurt Capwell try in between them and one last four-pointer through Walsh, who capped off a brilliant performance that included four line-break assists and 159 run metres, took Brisbane past the half century.

Match Snapshot
The 44-point victory was Brisbane's biggest win of the season and the fifth time in 2023 that they have scored 40+ points in a game.
Mitchell Moses failed to play any of the second half due to a suspected facial injury, while Andrew Davey didn't play beyond the 46th minute after failing a HIA.
Selwyn Cobbo went on report on the hour mark for a dangerous tackle, J'maine Hopgood was cited for a dangerous tackle 10 minutes earlier and Wiremu Greig was put on report in the 44th minute for a grapple.
Adam Reynolds' eighth and final goal of the night saw him notch up 1000 career goals. Only Cameron Smith (1295) has kicked more goals.
Reynolds' 22 points for the game, helped by a try, was just short of Lote Tuqiri's single-game Broncos record of 26 points.
2023 marks the first time the Broncos have beaten the Eels twice in a season since 2016.
The Broncos have scored 196 points in their past five games.
Broncos prop Payne Haas played his 100th NRL game.

Play of the Game
The first in a series of stunning tries for Brisbane. It was a heads up play from Reece Walsh that got things going, with the young fullback opted not to find his playmaker on last tackle and instead run down the left where he saw space.

What They Said
"I know it wasn't a great night for us but it's not like we didn't come here to try and that our attitude was off. Our attitude was on, you could see that in the first 20 minutes, we were just beaten by a team that was too good for us. We had some carnage, but they were just too good. [The Moses injury] makes it tough, but we're not giving up, we are going to keep fighting until it's over." – Eels coach Brad Arthur.

"It was a good start from us and we just maintained that momentum through the whole of the first half, just kept building pressure and picking up points. To be fair Parramatta had their injury problems tonight... they had to reshape their defensive line which is always difficult and when you have got guys like Reyno [Adam Reynolds] and Walshy [Reece Walsh] out there pulling the strings, it makes it pretty hard to defend against." – Broncos coach Kevin Walters.

What's Next
The Broncos have their final bye next week and with it a chance to recharge ahead of their run into September football. The Eels on the other hand continue to fight for their ticket to the post-season against the Roosters back home at CommBank Stadium on Friday night.

NRL.com