Broncos hit with injuries, Ezra Mam report in belting of the hapless Rabbitohs

News.com.au

15 hours ago

The Broncos thrashed the Rabbitohs 60-14 on the back of a Reece Walsh masterclass for their highest score in 14 years, but Xavier Willison suffered a broken arm at Suncorp Stadium.
Payne Haas was also ruled out pre-match due to an infection, while Ezra Mam was placed on report to tarnish an otherwise stellar night for the home side.
Walsh had four try assists and a try, while Kotoni Staggs, Deine Mariner and Ezra Mam grabbed doubles in the 10 tries to two rout.
Staggs put Selwyn Cobbo through a hole before he found Mam who passed back and forth to Walsh to race away and score and give the Broncos the lead.
Mam was placed on report for high contact on Souths fullback Jye Gray.
Adam Reynolds put the ball on a dime for Jack Gosiewski to dive on a grubber to score the Broncos' second.
Lewis Dodd put up a pinpoint cross-field kick for Bayleigh Bentley-Hape to produce a brilliant catch to score and get Souths on the board.
Walsh put Staggs through a hole as the Broncos scored a dagger just before the break.
However Tallis Duncan charged over on the stroke of half-time, but Souths' second missed goal of the night made it 18-8 at the interval.
A costly error from Jacob Host allowed Cobbo to pounce and race away to score a 50-metre try against the run of play.
In a big blow for the Broncos prop Willison suffered a suspected broken forearm.
Walsh produced some magic quick hands to put Mariner over for another try as the Broncos looked to run away with it.
Ben Talty charged over from close range off a pass from Billy Walters as the Broncos threatened a cricket score.
Mariner finished off a slick Broncos raid to dive over in the corner for his second as the Broncos extended their lead.
Mariner turned provider to put Staggs over for his double as the Broncos pushed towards a half century.
Mam sliced through a gaping hole to score a double of his own as the Broncos passed 50.
Lachlan Hubner scored a consolation try for Souths after Ashton Ward saved a try at the other end with a try-saving tackle on Jordan Riki.
Patrick Carrigan put Walsh over for a late try to cap a big win for the Broncos in style on another sad night for the Rabbitohs.
Walsh came bounced back from one of his worst performances of the season to produce one of his best in the thrashing of the Rabbitohs.
Walsh's run metres were down with just 63 from eight runs, but everything he touched turned to gold in a masterclass display.
Walsh finished with four tackle busts, an offload, two linebreaks, four linebreak assists and four try assists to go with the final try of the night.
Mam was also brilliant with 209 run metres, four tackle busts, two linebreaks and a classy double in a superb display.
With Walsh and Mam in their team and firing the Broncos will be very hard to beat in the finals and they could push into the top four after improving their points differential and the Warriors lost.
But Haas had to go to hospital and be put on an IV drip due to a skin infection, while Willison's injury is another headache for Michael Maguire.