It was a strange old night as the Melbourne Storm walloped the Brisbane Broncos on Thursday in a game that was effectively a dead rubber and featured a trial of a much-maligned rule change. And it also featured the Storm making an official complaint about the Broncos’ use of the PA system during the game.
About 10 minutes into proceedings, Fox League’s sideline reporter Jake Duke revealed to TV viewers that Storm officials weren’t happy with how the Broncos were using the PA system during live play. The Broncos’ ground announcer was reportedly speaking and playing music while the ball was in play, including while the Storm were trying to catch high kicks.
The ground announcer was making noise during high kicks. Image: Channel 9/Getty
One instance occurred in the seventh minute after Ben Hunt hoisted a bomb close to the Storm line. With the ball in the air and Sua Fa’alogo attempting to catch it, the ground announcer could be heard speaking over the microphone in an apparent attempt to get the crowd to make some noise.
Noise was being made over the PA system while Sua Fa’alogo was trying to catch the ball. Image: Channel 9
Duke reported not long after that Storm officials had made an official complaint to the NRL officials at the ground, who asked the Broncos to stop. The Broncos told Yahoo Sport Australia on Friday that they hadn’t received any official correspondence from the NRL about the matter.
Playing music and making noise during the game isn’t against any NRL rules, and often occurs multiple times throughout the 80 minutes. But the Storm obviously felt it was having the effect of distracting the players.
Broncos coach deflects question about future
The Storm ran away with a 46-20 victory in the Broncos’ final home game of a disastrous year. Michael Maguire’s side has fallen from premiers to 15th on the ladder.
Brisbane missed 43 tackles and made 14 errors on Thursday night in the eight-tries-to-four thrashing. Bizarrely, the grand final rematch was between two teams already eliminated from finals contention.
When asked in the post-match press conference if he’s the right coach to turn the club’s fortunes around, Maguire chose to talk about his players rather than his own challenges. “I know what this group’s capable of, as we’ve shown at times throughout the year,” Maguire said.
“We need to be smarter and better at times within games. We go through many a game where we just shot ourselves when we put ourselves in a position to actually go for it, and that comes with a bit of confidence and belief around what we’re doing, and we can grow that very quickly. Going back to some of the things that when I first got here, they instilled inside what makes great teams because it’s inside them.”
