Baby Broncos outclass Dragons in Brisbane

The Brisbane Broncos may have been undermanned, but they still turned on the style at Lang Park, defeating St George Illawarra 32-18.

Missing a host of Origin stars, the Broncos still scored six tries and made seven total line breaks in a dazzling display in front of around 30,000 fans in Brisbane.

The victory, Brisbane’s sixth in a row at home, moves the Broncos back up to fifth spot on the NRL ladder.

Delouise Hoeter scored a try at the start of each half for Brisbane — his first two NRL tries — in only his second career start for the Broncos.

Kotoni Staggs also grabbed a double for the Broncos, with Tesi Niu and Ezra Mam also crossing for scores.

Adam Reynolds orchestrated the victory from half back, steering the Broncos around the field and scoring four from six with the boot on his 32nd birthday.

Second row Zac Hosking, son of Manley great David, impressed on debut, running for a team-high 151 metres from 18 runs.

The Dragons, who were without Ben Hunt who is on Origin duty, trailed by just four points at the break despite playing a man down for 20 minutes.

Tariq Sims was twice sent to the sin bin for dangerous shots, the first for hitting Reynolds late from behind and then for a high shot on Rhys Kennedy.

Cody Ramsey and Moses Suli both scored for the Dragons in the first half, with Ramsey adding another with eight minutes remaining after superb work from Jack Bird to offload.

The Dragons will be sweating on the fitness of winger Mikaele Ravalawa, who left the field in the second half with a hamstring injury.

As well as Sims, former Bronco Andrew McCullough was placed on report for the Dragons, who take on the Roosters next up.

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