The Brisbane Broncos have been rocked by a quadruple injury blow during their second blowout loss in a row.
The Parramatta Eels were in a ruthless mood during Thursday night's trip to Suncorp Stadium, with the Broncos blown off the park yet again after conceding 60 points last weekend.
31 points in the first half to just 6 had the game over by halftime, and while it was a quieter second half, it'll be injury concerns which now have the Broncos most worried as their grip on a spot in the top eight continues to loosen.
Adam Reynolds was the first player to be taken out of the game with a concussion. The star half was unable to return after failing the test.
He suffered the concussion in the lead up to the first try of the game scored by Maika Sivo, suffering an accidental knee to the head from teammate Jordan Pereira, who had come sprinting in off the wing.
Thomas Flegler was the second player taken off and potentially the most serious of the injuries after he was transported to hospital with airway issues following an elbow to the throat during the first half.
Tom Flegler off to hospital due to airway injury suffered during this tackle. Direct contact to throat, brings concern for throat cartilage fracture. Broncos hopeful it’s “not too bad” but want to get scans to make sure. Fingers crossed for him pic.twitter.com/g0jWlMPbUi
— NRL PHYSIO (@nrlphysio) August 25, 2022
Kobe Hetherington would then also fail his head injury assessment early into the second half, before Brenko Lee became the fourth player to be ruled out of the game with a hamstring issue.
It left the Broncos with zero reserves on the bench in the final 20 minutes of the game as the Eels put up a big score to take home the win and keep faint hopes of a top four spot alive.
The loss leaves the Broncos' for and against only marginally ahead of the Raiders, who could move qualifying for the finals more or less into their own destiny with a win over the Manly Sea Eagles this week, ahead of a Round 25 clash with the Wests Tigers.
Should they win both of those games, then the Broncos would need to win over the St George Illawarra Dragons by enough points to keep their for and against ahead of the Raiders for a spot in the top eight.
