{"id":67720,"date":"2026-08-08T10:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/67720\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T10:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:50:11","slug":"nrl-2026-broncos-make-unwanted-history-in-the-battle-of-brisbane-as-year-from-hell-gets-even-worse-against-the-dolphins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/67720\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Broncos make unwanted history in the Battle of Brisbane as year from hell gets even worse against the Dolphins"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Broncos had never led by 24 points and lost until now.<\/p>\n

In a premiership defence that has turned into a nightmare for Brisbane, they hit a fresh new low on Saturday night in the \u2018Battle of Brisbane\u2019 against the rampaging Dolphins.<\/p>\n

The Broncos, courtesy of Ezra Mam brilliance, got off to a flyer and found themselves 24-0 up in the opening 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

But that is where their joy would end, with the Dolphins responding with three tries of their own in eight minutes.<\/p>\n

From there the Dolphins never really looked like getting beat as they proved too strong, fast and determined for a Broncos side that looks a shell of itself, as they crumpled to a 40-32 derby defeat.<\/p>\n

With the finals out of reach for last season\u2019s premiers, Brisbane were only playing for pride in front of a roaring Suncorp Stadium crowd.<\/p>\n

However, they ended up throwing away yet another lead, and this one was the biggest in the club\u2019s illustrious history and the equal third in NRL history.<\/p>\n

It was also just just the Dolphins\u2019 second win against the Broncos from eight matches.<\/p>\n

Before Saturday night, the largest ascendancy the Broncos had ever given up was a 22-point lead against the Cronulla Sharks in Round 16 of the 2014 NRL season, where they led 22-0 before losing 24-22 at Suncorp Stadium.<\/p>\n

The result somewhat encapsulates what has been a horror season for the pride of Brisbane.<\/p>\n

It has been a catastrophic premiership defence. Brisbane are the first reigning premiers in 21 years to miss the finals entirely while languishing near the bottom of the ladder with just six wins.<\/p>\n

Not only that, but one could argue it\u2019s the worst in the history of the NRL, with the Tigers\u2019 2005 premiership hangover seeing them finish 11th.<\/p>\n

However, sitting 16th and with a stacked roster, this has been a season to forget for Broncos fans.<\/p>\n

They have now lost 11 of their past 12 games and Saturday night was the third time this season they have scored more than 30 points and lost.<\/p>\n

While on the flip side the Dolphins\u2019 13th win of the season means will they definitely play finals football in just their fourth season in the NRL. <\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s derby was a perfect wake-up call that they have to be on from the first whistle come finals time.<\/p>\n

However, unlike in the match they were embarrassed by the Sharks 66-0 in Round 19 after giving up early points, the Redcliffe side showed grit and fight to claw themselves back into the match after conceding four tries in the opening 20 minutes.<\/p>\n

On to the finals for the Dolphins and back to the drawing board for the Broncos.<\/p>\n

Originally published as Broncos make unwanted history in the Battle of Brisbane as Dolphins snatch crucial victory<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Broncos had never led by 24 points and lost until now. In a premiership defence that has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67721,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[87561,87569,87582,9310,87566,87558,87545,87548,87581,85735,72118,87592,87571,87557,87544,87577,87579,87556,87563,87588,46650,87583,87551,87575,49580,66312,87596,87567,9711,99,87595,3231,87560,56228,87550,3135,87584,87576,87547,9955,87589,57319,38110,87572,87591,87559,45588,87574,36518,87580,87593,11735,66373,30334,36317,16821,87549,87554,87553,42312,39287,41495,18790,39770,87578,11378,58561,87586,47836,87590,87573,51850,68745,41967,87565,41977,42880,47921,87585,87568,77036,43078,87552,87546,28599,39024,87562,87594,87587,58716,87570,38773,38175,87564,87555],"class_list":["post-67720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brisbane","tag-s-derby","tag-s-illustrious-history","tag-s-premiers","tag-9310","tag-13th-win","tag-16th","tag-20-minutes-but","tag-20-minutes-on","tag-2005-premiership-hangover","tag-21-years","tag-22-0","tag-24-points","tag-24-22","tag-a-22-point-lead","tag-a-40-32-derby-defeat-with","tag-a-broncos-side","tag-a-catastrophic-premiership-defence","tag-a-flyer","tag-a-fresh-new-low","tag-a-horror-season","tag-a-nightmare","tag-a-perfect-wake-up-call","tag-a-premiership-defence","tag-a-roaring-suncorp-stadium-crowd-however","tag-a-season","tag-a-shell","tag-a-stacked-roster","tag-another-lead","tag-battle","tag-brisbane","tag-brisbane-it","tag-broncos","tag-broncos-fans-they","tag-courtesy","tag-crucial-victory","tag-dolphins","tag-early-points","tag-eight-minutes-from","tag-ezra-mam-brilliance","tag-finals-football","tag-finals-time-however","tag-four-tries","tag-front","tag-grit-and-fight","tag-just-six-wins-not","tag-just-their-fourth-season","tag-last-season","tag-more-than-30-points","tag-night","tag-nrl-history","tag-nrl-history-it","tag-pride","tag-reach","tag-round-16","tag-round-19","tag-saturday","tag-second-win","tag-suncorp-stadium-the-result","tag-the-2014-nrl-season","tag-the-battle","tag-the-biggest","tag-the-bottom","tag-the-broncos","tag-the-club","tag-the-cronulla-sharks","tag-the-dolphins","tag-the-drawing-board","tag-the-equal-third","tag-the-finals","tag-the-first-reigning-premiers","tag-the-first-whistle","tag-the-flip-side","tag-the-history","tag-the-ladder","tag-the-largest-ascendancy","tag-the-match","tag-the-nrl","tag-the-opening","tag-the-pride","tag-the-rampaging-dolphins-the-broncos","tag-the-redcliffe-side","tag-the-season","tag-the-sharks-66-0","tag-the-third-time","tag-the-tigers","tag-the-worst","tag-the-worst-premiership-defence","tag-their-joy","tag-their-legacy","tag-their-own","tag-their-past-12-games","tag-this-one","tag-this-season","tag-three-tries","tag-unwanted-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67720"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67720\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67721"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}