2020 Brisbane Broncos season

The 2020 Brisbane Broncos season was the 33rd in the club's history. Coached by Peter Gentle, following the resignation of Anthony Seibold, and captained by Alex Glenn, they competed in the NRL's 2020 Telstra Premiership. The Broncos failed to qualify for the finals for the first time since 2013 and claimed their first ever wooden spoon in a disastrous season, marred by controversy, the COVID-19 pandemic and injuries to key players.

Season summary

Before the season had launched for the Broncos, the team already faced controversy after forward Joe Ofahengaue was issued a traffic infringement by Queensland police for being asleep in a stationary vehicle.^[1]

The Broncos competed in Pool 4 in the Nines, with club legend Corey Parker coming out of retirement to join the team for the pre-season competition.^[2] The Broncos started off their Nines campaign, losing to the North Queensland Cowboys 17–11, and defeated the Melbourne Storm 12-8 the following day. The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles had a better for and against than the Broncos and clinched the second finals spot in the pool, meaning that the Broncos missed out on qualifying for the finals of the Nines.

Two days after the end of the Nines competition, outside back Izaia Perese was stood down from all club duties by the Broncos, after he was charged by police with drug related offences.^[3] It had later come to light that Perese was flown to Perth for the Nines competition, and was sent home the day before the tournament commenced once the club was informed of his legal issues.^[4]

The Broncos had a shaky performance during the pre-season trials, beating the Central Queensland Capras convinvingly, while losing close games against the Cowboys, Titans and Wynnum Manly. Injuries sidelined captain Alex Glenn, Matt Lodge and Joe Ofahengaue for the opening round, with Anthony Seibold choosing young forward Patrick Carrigan and new recruit Brodie Croft as co-captains against the Cowboys.^[5] The Broncos defeated the Cowboys 28–21. As the COVID-19 pandemic worsened in Australia, the NRL announced that Round 2 would be played behind closed doors, but conceded that they were unsure whether the competition could continue beyond that.^[6] Playing in an empty Suncorp Stadium, the Broncos defeated the South Sydney Rabbitohs 22–18. On March 18, the Australian government declared a human biosecurity emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which put the NRL season in jeopardy.^[7] Two days later on March 20, the NRL announced it would be suspending the season.^[8] The Broncos sat at sixth position on the ladder before the suspension of the competition.

After speculation about when or if the competition would resume, the NRL announced its intentions to restart the competition on May 28, with the relaunch being dubbed "Project Apollo".^[9] The draw was revised to fall in line with federal and state restrictions, with the NRL eventually releasing a 20-round draw, where each team would play each other once and play five teams a second time.^[10] Players were also required to regularly test for COVID-19 and provide the NRL with details about their own wellbeing, as well as the wellbeing of others in their household.^[11] Numerous rule changes were also put in place by the NRL, with the most significant being the introduction of the "six again" or "six-to-go" rule, where the tackle count would reset for ruck infringements, rather than the affected team receiving a penalty.

Prior to the relaunch of the NRL season, veteran hooker Andrew McCullough was released by the Broncos and signed with the Newcastle Knights for the rest of the season.^[12] The short term deal also included a clause that allowed McCullough to return to the Broncos for the 2021 season.^[13]

The Broncos opened the relaunch of the NRL season, playing against the Parramatta Eels in an empty Suncorp Stadium. The team trailed 12-6 at halftime, but came up short after conceding four tries in the second half to go down 34-6.^[14] Any optimism at the Broncos was quickly fizzled out the following week, with the injury-hit team suffering their heaviest defeat in history, losing 59-0 to the Sydney Roosters, who were without fullback James Tedesco after a high body temperature prevented him from flying up for the game.^[15] This marked the first time in club history that the Broncos were held scoreless at Suncorp Stadium. The lack of effort from the Broncos was noted by Andrew Johns and Paul Vautin, who called the Broncos "soft" and "diabolical".^[16] Broncos players refused to report to the post-match press conference after the loss, despite being obligated by the NRL to attend.

Milestones

• Round 1: Jamil Hopoate made his first grade debut.
• Round 2: Ethan Bullemor makes his first grade debut.
• Round 4: Cory Paix makes his first grade debut.
• Round 4: Tesi Niu makes his first grade debut.
• Round 4: The Broncos suffer their worst defeat in club history, losing 59-0 to the Sydney Roosters, trailing 29-0 at halftime. This also marks the first time that the Broncos were held scoreless at Suncorp Stadium.

References