Broncos aim to tire Taumalolo in defence

Brisbane coach Anthony Seibold says the key to stopping Jason Taumalolo in Friday's derby is to tire the rampaging North Queensland lock in defence.

Taumalolo

The Broncos aim to ensure Cowboys attacking weapon Jason Taumalolo does more work in defence. (AAP)

Being tackled by Jason Taumalolo may sound like a footballer's worst nightmare.

But Brisbane coach Anthony Seibold reckons tiring out Taumalolo in defence will be the key to blunting the North Queensland wrecking ball in Friday's NRL derby at Suncorp Stadium.

Rampaging lock Taumalolo turned heads by running a stunning 301m to help inspire the Cowboys' season-opening win over St George Illawarrra last week.

However, another stat caught Seibold's eye - Taumalolo was only made to make 15 tackles by the Dragons.

As a result, Seibold reckons the Broncos must target the Tongan juggernaut in defence if they are any chance of bouncing back from a round one loss to Melbourne and end the Cowboys' run of four wins from the last six derbies.

"He's a dangerous player that is for sure," Seibold said.

"You are never going to take away his weapons. What we have got to try and do is minimise his weapons.

"The big thing is that we want to make him make some tackles. Jason only made 15 tackles last week.

"You want to make sure he has to get into the tackles a little bit more and it is the same with all of their forwards.

"They are real weapons and if we don't stand strong in the middle they are going to come through us."

Of course, stopping Taumalolo is easier said than done.

Just ask the Broncos.

The hulking lock has made a total of 2540m run metres against Brisbane - his most against any NRL side in his 163 game career.

And he is fresh from his career highlight against the Dragons.

Taumalolo became just the second forward since records were kept in 1999 to shatter the 300m mark in a match with his last round heroics.

The only other forward to pull off the feat was ex-Warriors captain Steve Price, who did it twice back in 2007.

Taumalolo is a powerhouse in the middle but Seibold was also wary of the Cowboys No.13 switching to the edge.

"One thing we have seen with Jason when he plays on the edge is that he does a lot of their set-up plays and gets a quick play the ball," he said.

"We've got to make sure we get our bodies in front and also do the job on Jason when he goes through the middle."


Share
3 min read

Published

Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world