Seibold's young guns handed a reality check

Anthony Seibold has warned his young forwards that they must learn valuable lessons from the 25-24 loss to St George Illawarra if they want to play first grade each week.

Handling errors by Thomas Flegler and defensive misreads by Tevita  Pangai jnr proved costly for the Broncos with both middle forwards below the high standard they set in the 29-10 win over the Cowboys.

Seibold said his forwards were outmuscled by the Dragons pack at the start of both halves and that 19-year-old Flegler in particular received “a big lesson”.

“He was coming up against experienced pros like James Graham, Tariq Sims and Paul Vaughan when he was probably on top of the world for the last six days after the Cowboys game,” Seibold said.

“A lot of people in the press were talking about him being the next Shane Webcke, which I can’t quite understand when you are two games into your NRL career.

“He’s got a lot of potential but I reckon he learned a real valuable lesson tonight.”

Seibold said Flegler would have to understand what that lesson is if he wants to play first grade each week.

“We have to learn. We have some young guys who got some real pats on the back after last week’s game. The NRL has a real habit of bringing you back down to earth,” Seibold said.

“Tevita played the entire second half which from a physical point of view is a real step in the right direction... but one thing I did think is that the Dragons forwards won the physical contest.

“You win or you learn in the NRL. We need to learn from this game. I talk to the players about the little things that… become big things. A lot of those little things are choices… and we got beaten in those areas by the Dragons.”

Seibold said his side “just dipped the toe in” but needed to “dive all the way in” to the contest to compete physically and emotionally on a regular basis.

He said his side “showed a lot of fight” but admitted they got what they deserved.

Winger Jamayne Isaako missed with a 78th minute field goal attempt after earlier dropping the ball with the line wide open which would have given Brisbane a 30-24 lead.

“The positive was that we created the gap but we’ve got to be better at executing that play. Jamayne just had to catch the ball and fall over the line pretty much...  but the game wasn’t won or lost on that particular play,” Seibold said.

“I thought a lot of little things in our game weren’t where I would like them to be and where we need to be to get a result.”

Prop Matt Lodge is set to come back into the side  for next Thursday’s clash with the Roosters at the SCG after serving a two-match suspension.