Melbourne Storm head coach Craig Bellamy said his side simply didn't tackle Reece Walsh well enough during Sunday evening's grand final.
The Storm, despite leading 16 points to 6 at halftime, were ran over by the Walsh-led Broncos in the second half.
Walsh made a stunning 14 tackle breaks, assisted three tries and scored one of his own for good measure in the Clive Churchill Medal-winning performance.
Bellamy admitted his side's plan to stop Walsh didn't work, but that they didn't tackle him well enough, before admitting Walsh's strength was his biggest advantage.
"It didn't work," Bellamy said on the Storm's plan to stop Walsh.
"I think there are some things you can do. You can tackle him. We didn't.
"He is obviously a good player. He is quick, he is strong. That's probably the X-Factor in him to be quite honest, he is so strong in contact and we didn't do much of a job on him."
The Melbourne coach also revealed that Walsh's incredible second half in particular could have been sparked by a major turning point - Tui Kamikamica's no try, where the Fijian forward dropped the ball over the goal line.
"I think it was a pretty big turning point, but you have to give the Broncos some credit for coming back. They have been coming back the whole finals series. We were a bit disappointed in letting some tries in but at the end of the day, we just weren't good enough on the night and the Broncos were," Bellamy said on Kamikamica's no try.
Bellamy, who has coached in 11 grand finals, admitted to being disappointed with the result, but still able to console himself and his players by the acknowledgement of how hard a grand final is to make.
"Disappointment obviously. Losing a grand final is hard, but you sort of console yourself a little bit with grand finals are hard to get to and obviously hard to win," Bellamy said.
"Congratulate the boys on having a good year and getting here, but it's obviously very disappointing when you don't get the result you want."
Melbourne captain Harry Grant said the second half was all about possession and momentum, but that his side couldn't make the most of their opportunities as the Red Hill-based outfit ran over the top of them.
"They had a fair bit of possession and momentum their way. We created a few opportunities in the second half, but like Craig said, they were there to stop it. We didn't take advantage," Grant said.
"We were on the back foot a lot of that second half. We still found ways to give ourselves a sniff, but credit to the Broncos for the way they turned up and owned their moments."
