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The Broncos won only three games in 2020 and have lost their opening two outings of the 2021 campaign, going down 28-16 to southern Queensland rival Gold Coast on Friday night, a week after being run down by Parramatta.
The Titans scored three tries in the space of seven minutes around half time, and David Fifita scored a brace, having left Red Hill to join rivals Gold Coast in the off-season.
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Brisbane legend Corey Parker was mightily unimpressed by his former club.
“I still see the same things I saw last year,” Parker told Fox League.
“Effort you need, you can’t succeed in any sport if you don’t have effort. I’m not buying that the effort was good in the first 40 (minutes) last week, you need more than that. You need some unity, you need some direction.
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“At times tonight I thought the direction, particularly from the people you want direction from, was just not there.
“Then in the forward pack, yes Tevita put his hand up eventually, he made it personal, but you need to do that from the kick-off.
“Some real hard lessons to learn and in the NRL you need to learn them quickly, otherwise it’s going to be a long year.”
Brisbane is missing first-grade stars Payne Haas, Kotoni Staggs, and to a lesser extent Matt Lodge.
But Braith Anasta says they can’t use that as an excuse for the performance against the Titans.
He says the team needs a senior leader, and five-eighth Anthony Milford should be that guy but hasn’t got the confidence in his own game to do so.
“No confidence at all, the Broncos, you can see it in their eyes,” Anasta said.
“There’s a lot of doubt in that side. It’s a young side that hasn’t had much success.
“It’s for someone like Milford to be a leader and tell other players what to do or how to do it when you’re struggling yourself.
“It doesn’t (come naturally to him) but it’s harder when you’re out of form like Milford, and there’s not many in that side to say ‘come on, follow me’.
“You’ve got to convince yourself before you can convince other players.
“I can’t see things improving anytime soon.”
Cooper Cronk said the most disappointing aspect of the Brisbane performance was the effort in defence.
“Some of their defensive efforts on the edges were poor, Tesi Niu got caught out a couple of times, Milford with the effort he put on David Fifita for his second try,” Cronk said.
“I think sometimes with the Broncos, you’ve got a big guy like David Fifita who leaves at the end of last season, your first game you play against him, it takes them 60 minutes to get stuck into Fifita.
“Pangai Jr went after him, (Fifita) gets a concussion and leaves the field, then Pangai goes down the same edge and gets a try. That should have happened at the start, that’s the big-money play.
“The Broncos should have gone after Fifita earlier, they shouldn’t have waited 60 minutes.
“You go across that whole list, no matter who’s injured and who’s not, there’s not a player that would grab that team by the scruff of the neck after 50 minutes and say ‘hey listen, follow me, this is how we change the direction of this game’.
“It’s hard to do that on the run when you don’t have that leadership, but the Broncos need to find a way to get out of those ruts that they fall into, because that is costing them wins at the moment.”
Cronk says new coach Kevin Walters needs to turn it around, fast.
“I think Kevvie will be given a lot of slack, with the support he has up there. But if games like this continue, there will be some questions,” he said.
“Unity, camaraderie which are Kevvie’s strengths, it will win you some games but it’s not going to beat the top eight teams.
“You’ve got to come up with effort, you’ve got to come up with a game plan, you’ve got to come up with individual accountability to beat the best teams in this comp.”
Fellow Fox League expert Greg Alexander can’t see the Broncos competing with the NRL’s best sides any time soon.
“The sides who finish outside the top eight are sides who can’t play for 80 minutes, and at the moment the Broncos can’t play for 80 minutes,” Alexander said.
“Their first 20 was good, they were in the mix... but in a period it all collapses for them, a seven-minute period the Titans run in three tries and the game is over.
“Let’s not kid ourselves... then Fifita scores early in the second half and that’s it.”
The Broncos take on the Bulldogs next Saturday night.