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Low confidence, NRL lapses hurting Broncos

3 minute read

Jamayne Isaako knows South Sydney's Latrell Mitchell will expose Brisbane again if they retreat into their shells in Thursday's NRL clash.

JAMAYNE ISAAKO of the Broncos.
JAMAYNE ISAAKO of the Broncos. Picture: Phil Walter/Getty Images

Brisbane fullback Jamayne Isaako knows there will be more NRL misery for his side unless they "come out of their shells" to counter South Sydney's rampaging fullback Latrell Mitchell.

The Broncos were reduced to bystanders as Melbourne No.1 Ryan Papenhuyzen scored an incredible four tries in 11 minutes to fuel a 40-6 drubbing last week.

The powerfully-built Mitchell is a different beast to the fleet-footed Papenhuyzen but is just as damaging.

Isaako admits things need to change if the struggling Broncos are to have any joy on Thursday night.

"We all know in those windows, those lapses when teams are scoring points on us, when we do face a bit of adversity and it gets tough boys tend to go into their shells a bit and the confidence goes down," he said.

"Good teams work together and that's something we haven't been doing.

"In those times we need to find a bit of resilience to bounce back and get up and running again.

"We all know what Latrell can bring with his running game and his passing game's certainly developed ... if we do a job on him and limit his running ability it'll go a long way."

The Broncos' 24-0 win over Canterbury a fortnight ago ended a 13-game losing streak but after an early runaway try saw them take the lead against Storm, Papenhuyzen ensured all that momentum was cancelled.

Herbie Farnworth (shoulder) - one of their best in the win against the Bulldogs - will miss the clash and is replaced at centre by Richie Kennar while Tom Dearden will wear the No.7 after being a late replacement off the bench for halfback Brodie Croft last week.

Tevita Pangai Jnr returns to the starting side at lock in place of the suspended Patrick Carrigan, who accepted a one-week ban for a crusher tackle on Melbourne's Christian Welch.

Games against the Rabbitohs, Penrith and Parramatta loom in the next three rounds but Isaako insisted coach Kevin Walters sees a light at the end of the tunnel.

"It's frustrating; we're not getting the results that we want and we know we're capable," Isaako said.

"It's his (Walters') passion; in all our meetings, we sit down as a team and talk about what went wrong you can see his passion and how much he wants to win and turn things around."

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