Brisbane forward Kurt Capewell believes the tough times the Broncos endured in recent seasons - including winning the wooden spoon - has helped set them up for a tilt at premiership glory this year.
The home side well and truly banished their hoodoo against the Storm at Suncorp Stadium last night, posting a dominant 26-0 victory which has granted them a home preliminary final, something that seemed out of reach even as recently as last year.
“I didn't read into the psychological side of it too much,” Capewell said of finally the breaking the club’s longstanding poor run against the Storm.
“It was just another game of footy for us, and we prepared really well; we knew we had a game to beat any team in the comp, we just had to go there and do our jobs right.
“That was a really good effort tonight, very pleasing that the hard work we put in (over) the last few weeks has paid off.
“But, there is always room for improvement, it's not a destination.
“It's every week – you have got to keep on working. Week-in, week-out, we’re just trying to get better every week, so we’ll continue to do that.”
Match: Broncos v Storm
Finals Week 1 -
home Team
Broncos
2nd Position
away Team
Storm
3rd Position
Venue: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane
While Capewell only arrived at Red Hill last year, along with skipper Adam Reynolds, who was instrumental in last night’s win, the Queensland Origin forward has been a key member of the team who have emerged from what has been dubbed the darkest days at the club where they finished the season at the bottom of the ladder in 2020.
“A lot of resilience was built here in those tough years and it's paying off now,” Capewell said of the core young group including Pat Carrigan, Payne Haas, Jordan Riki and Kotoni Staggs who endured those tough times.
“They're all still here and they're all still together and they've all overcome that together.
“So, it is very pleasing to see that.”
Kotoni Staggs Try
Not only did the Broncos overturn their recent run of results against the Storm, they did so in emphatic fashion by keeping Melbourne scoreless, something which pleased coach Kevin Walters.
“Our defence is something that we've worked hard on from way back in November of last year and it's slowly come together,” Walters said.
“It has been a few forward steps and (then) we come back a bit, but tonight I thought that's the best (we have defended) … that's our first nil score line of the year.
"To do that here, I think that was very good.
“The Storm have been a good side for a long time and can score points quickly, so it was important for us just to keep defending the way we did.
“The longer the game went, the more pressure we could put on them with our defence.”
The Broncos will now have the week off to prepare for their next match which will decide who makes it into the grand final, with their opposition to be determined next week.
