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Walters praises Broncos for huge derby win

Fraser BartonAAP
Kotoni Staggs dives over to score in the corner as his Broncos side beat the Cowboys in the NRL.
Camera IconKotoni Staggs dives over to score in the corner as his Broncos side beat the Cowboys in the NRL. Credit: AAP

Brisbane coach Kevin Walters has praised his side's resilience after they secured a dominant 37-18 win over North Queensland, just their fifth victory of the 2021 NRL season.

Walters was looking for a more polished performance after the Broncos fell just short against Penrith last week, and they obliged in Friday's Queensland derby.

"Reminded them about how good a winning dressing room is. We haven't had many this year but it was really nice tonight to have that winning feeling, you can't beat it," said Walters.

"We've had a lot of times this year where it hasn't been so great but I always knew that there were some good times ahead and we'll enjoy tonight.

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"I thought they really came together again, nicely. You can see in the dressing room and around training how they're slowly but surely coming together to that unit that we need them to be."

Payne Haas and Jordan Riki were immense throughout the contest, sucking the Cowboys' middle forwards to great effect, allowing the home side to use their right edge as their attacking weapon.

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Haas finished with 172 running metres, while Riki had 89 with four tackle busts, two linebreaks and the final try of the night.

Walters said the task now is harnessing Riki's natural talent and moulding him into the well-rounded player the club believes he can be.

"You cant coach that stuff. It's natural ability from Jordi," he said.

"What we have to coach into him is to be consistent with his work.

"He's certainly a very powerful athlete, but we've got to get the football athlete into him throughout his career."

Young playmaker Tyson Gamble had his best performance of the year, finishing with three try assists and directing the Broncos to their highest points tally of the season.

The Broncos took their largest lead since round one into the halftime break, 22-10 to the good after an exhilarating opening stanza.

In a six-try opening half, the derby played to its familiar tune with both sides throwing caution to the wind in the opening 20 minutes.

The Broncos led 10-0 after 15 minutes, Riki's barnstorming run laying the platform for Jamayne Isaako to score.

Isaako broke free again minutes later, his grubber eventually getting to Kobe Hetherington who set up skipper Alex Glenn.

The Cowboys then went to work with their left edge, Jake Granville scoring their opening try in the 20th minute.

But tries for Kotoni Staggs and Brodie Croft still had the Broncos with a clear edge, despite the Cowboys' Tom Dearden touching down in his first game against his former club.

Kyle Feldt put the Cowboys back to within 10 points midway through the second half but it wasn't enough as the Broncos kicked on to level the derby ledger with a comfortable home win.

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