Brisbane have adopted a siege mentality heading into their do-or-die NRL final against Parramatta, declaring they’re happy to be written off.
The Broncos have their backs against the wall and have circled the wagons after being upset by Canterbury in their final-round tune up.
By their skipper’s own admission, their attitude was lacking as they were downed five-tries-to-two by the Bulldogs and were guilty of already having one eye on the finals.
The Broncos missed out on the chance to stay in seventh and slipped to eighth to set up a match-up with the Eels at Bankwest Stadium on Sunday.
Boyd said it also served as the impetus for them to be written off by their critics who have given the powerhouse Queensland club little chance against Brad Arthur’s fifth-placed team.
“Our attitude was a little bit off on the weekend; it’s one of those games everyone expects you to win, probably thinking about the finals the next week even though we weren’t assured of a position,” Boyd said at the launch of the NRL finals in Sydney on Monday.
“It’s back-against-the-wall going out to Parramatta this week, no fallback position, no one gives us a chance to win as well. We seem to play the best then.”
Boyd has been the target of constant criticism this year with his future brought into question.
While some have queried whether he would retire at the end of 2019, and not see out the remaining two years of his deal, he said he was committed to making the most of his move to fullback and improving over the next several seasons.
He pointed to Brisbane’s six-win, one-draw and three-loss record over the past 10 weeks and said he feels like his halves combination with Jake Turpin has helped steady them and get them back in finals contention.
“(Coach Anthony Seibold) has a great game plan, playing me a little bit like a second fullback,” Boyd said.
“Myself and (Anthony Milford) play fullback both sides of the park and Turps runs around as a halfback on both sides.
“It seems to work well. We’ve been pretty successful the last 10 weeks.
“I think there are a lot of similarities between five-eighth and fullback and it’s more about finding my strength and working them into the five-eighth role.
“That’s more what I’ve been working towards rather than learning new tricks.”