It was the Wests Tigers who came away with the 48-0 victory but the talking point is the compound femur fracture suffered by Brisbane Broncos utility Corey Oates.
Oates, who was shifted into the back-row, had to be stretchered off and he was in some discomfort as he faces a lengthy layoff.
It took just nine minutes for the Tigers to open the scoring on the back of a set play off a scrum.
Harry Grant and others combined to send David Nofoaluma over for his first try of the game.
Continuing his rich vein of form, Grant would score his own try, with a crafty dart from dummy half to extend the Tigers lead.
Billy Walters, who got the call up at halfback, then combined with Luciano Leilua who strolled over for an easy try.
It just got worse for the Broncos in every sense; their defence caught off-guard and offering nothing in attack.
It was an onslaught and the pain continued when the Tigers scored their fourth try off a Jamayne Isaako error.
The ball trickled out and veteran Benji Marshall was there to scoop the ball up and race down the sideline to score.
Benji put on a masterclass; whether it be scoring tries, setting tries up or controlling the game with his kicking.
Then came a try you do not see often and a second for Leilua.
A short drop out was caught by the back-rower, before he shrugged off Broncos defenders and raced over to score.
Any reprieve the Broncos were hoping for in the second did not last long.
Just minutes into the second half, Marshall combined with Luke Garner who scored his first try of the game.
Nofoaluma would then turn provider as some hot potato footy saw him grubber through for Sam McIntyre’s first NRL try.
A piece of magic then ensued for Billy Walters to score his first NRL try.
Marshall’s bomb was volleyed ahead by Walters who outpaced Xavier Coates to win the race to the ball.
A proud Kevin Walters in the Fox Sports commentary box was pleased to see his son score.
The Broncos would stem the flow somewhat but the Tigers would score a final try, with Benji and Garner again combining.
The pressure mounts on Anthony Seibold as the Broncos struggle with yet another injury, this time to Oates.
The downside to it all is the Broncos only have 21 available players so Seibold cannot make wholesale changes.
“We have 15 players unavailable out of our 36 so we don’t have a lot of options to be fair,” said Seibold.
“I’ll see what players we have on Monday and if it’s appropriate to make changes, we’ll make changes.”
With Luke Brooks dropped to the bench, Maguire made a statement and wants his halfback to emulate the form of Benji.
“The same thing that Benji went through,” said Maguire calmly.
“Benji showed exactly what you should do when you face a little bit of adversity.
“It’s a lesson for any player to put your head down and work and I can see Brooksie [Luke Brooks] doing the same thing.”
NRL News Player of the Game
3. Benji Marshall
2. Harry Grant
- Luciano Leilua
