The Broncos have been relatively quiet in the off-season, but the loss of two key players from their grand final team could hurt them next year.

Herbie Farnworth was as good as any centre in the NRL last season, scoring and setting up a host of tries as well as defending solidly.

And Tom Flegler was a tower of strength in the middle, making the hard yards and stopping rival forwards dead in their tracks with brutal tackles.

Both have gone to cross-town rivals the Dolphins and will be missed by Kevin Walters’ team.

The club has made just one significant signing – Fletcher Baker from the Roosters – to replace Flegler but he is not quite in the Flegler league… yet.

Last season’s late grand final capitulation will haunt the Broncos all summer and a sports psychologist may be needed to get the players’ heads back into a good space.

Brisbane looked to be in an unbeatable position when Ezra Mam scored his lightning hat-trick, only to fall to pieces as Nathan Cleary came to life in the final 20 minutes of the biggest game of the year.

The club has other issues to work on as well – with their tremendous fire power they made the most line breaks in the NRL in 2023 (160), but also made the most errors (293).

For all his brilliance, Reece Walsh made the most individual errors in the competition (53) and Walters will doubtless be working on his decision-making in pressure situations in the off season.

In defence, the Broncos conceded the most run metres in the NRL (38,829) so plugging the leaks in the line is another job for the coaching staff over the off-season.