Anthony Seibold has declared that he won't be quitting as Broncos coach before the end of the season despite his side slumping to a ninth loss in the past 10 outings.
The 36-26 loss to the Sharks at Suncorp Stadium came on the back of a 46-8 home defeat to the Storm. In both games the Broncos showed signs of improvement but once again fell apart defensively when the blowtorch was applied.
With eight minutes to go the Broncos led 26-18 but collapsed.
Instead of talking post-match about what had loomed as a famous win for veteran fullback Darius Boyd in what was a brilliant return to fullback, Seibold was forced to answer a question on whether he believed he would see out the season at the helm.
"I believe so. I certainly won't be quitting," he said.
"I don't think quitting is an example this young group needs to see or wants to see.
Match Highlights: Broncos v Sharks
"We have made some big steps forward the last two weeks but ultimately we lost both games and conceded a lot of points. Everyone can see that tonight was a better performance."
The Broncos coach watched the game from the sideline and what he saw mirrored too many of Brisbane's previous fadeouts where errors compound.
"In some ways it is the story of our year. The frustrating thing is that we are just not good enough at defending our errors at the moment," he said.
Relive the final minutes of Broncos v Sharks
"In the first half we offload the footy and they run away 70 metres [and score]. We give away a seven-tackle set and they score and one of our players gets raked of the footy and they score right on half-time.
"That is three tries where we are not making them work for their points. Then we defend really well for 30 minutes, and then don't touch the ball for the last ten minutes and they score three tries."
Boyd had four try assists at fullback in a cracking game which also saw Anthony Milford, Kotoni Staggs and Herbie Farnworth chime in with some brilliant attack.
"Darius was outstanding. He didn't deserve to be in a losing team. I thought he was great out the back of shape in attack and defensively he was everywhere," Seibold said.
"We scored five tries and I thought we took a big step forward from an attacking point of view but you can't concede 36 points in the NRL and expect to win.
Seibold will look to keep Boyd at the back for rest of season
"It's one person making a consistent error on a play. That is where we keep getting hurt. We work on it consistently at training but we've got to keep improving."
Staggs was also superb in a two-try display and the proud Indigenous man from Wellington took the field in a jersey specifically designed for Indigenous Round.
"The Broncos have got a fantastic legacy of Indigenous players who have gone before, and in Indigenous communities in particular the Broncos are at the forefront of any sporting organisation in Australian sport," Seibold said.
"The jersey was very special and there was a fantastic symbol at the front of the jersey with a circle.
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"Kotoni tells me it is not just an Indigenous circle, it is a circle that welcomes everybody regardless of their heritage.
"We spoke about that a lot before the game, that we've got to work together. That is us. We've got to be stronger. That jersey represented the whole of us tonight so it was disappointing not to get a result."
Seibold said back-rower David Fifita would return next week from knee surgery against South Sydney.