A relieved Michael Maguire has lifted the lid on his side’s freakish ability to constantly rally from big margins after they once again overcame a two-try deficit to beat the Storm.
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Brisbane trailed by as many as 12 against the Storm in last year’s decider before finishing over the top and in their corresponding meeting on Friday night, came home with a wet sail to win 18-14 after trailing 14-0 at half time.
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Since midway through last season, the Broncos have won six games after trailing by at least 14 points.
The victory is a massive pressure reliever for Maguire and the club, who have dealt with another turbulent week in the headlines.
“I’m very proud of my players,” Maguire said.
“We speak about a lot of things and what we want to build and what they’re building and this was the next game that came up after a couple of performances that they weren’t, and we weren’t really proud of and how we went about things.
“We probably found ourselves in a bit of a similar situation that first half where the players made it hard for themselves, obviously through their completions, but I still could see and I always have seen the team connect together and perform the way I know they can.
“It was nice to see them enjoy that in the second half.”
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The comeback kings were anything but in their two losses to start the season, but despite being winless, out of form and down a big margin at a venue they hadn’t won at since 2016, Brisbane found a way after the break, scoring three unanswered tries.
When Maguire was told of the wacky stat of Brisbane’s recent come-from-behind success, he preferred not to read too much into it.
“I think the fact that they work hard for each other. That’s an identity that we can carry, but you don’t want to put yourself into that position all the time,” Maguire said.
“It’s nice to be able to understand or know that you can do those things when you need to though.”
Maguire was also pressed on his decision to only play 15 players, which left four players on his bench without a minute of action — including hard-hitting forward Aublix Tawha, and Origin and Test star Gehamat Shibasaki.
Shibasaki was benched after a poor defensive showing in a Round 2 loss to Parramatta and got not chance to makes amends.
“Because of the players I have and the experience some of the players have had, I just felt that it was the right thing for us to do,” Maguire said of the unusual bench tactic, before praising the 80-minute performance of stand-in skipper Pat Carrigan.
“Paddy plays 80-minute games. Every now and then I looked to try and bring him off, but tonight was one of those nights where you keep your seniors out there and he performed really well along with Payne and the rest of the group.”
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