After being called out by various sections of the media and Broncos fans for his perceived soft performances in defence, Broncos skipper Darius Boyd has been forced to come out and defend his form, and reassure the Brisbane fanbase that he will see out the final three years of his contract.
Having led the Broncos to their second worst start to a season ever, with their current record sitting at an abysmal six losses and two wins, the wolves are well and truly at the door for Boyd.
While the Broncos have been poor across the park, their skipper and veteran of 300 NRL games has come under particular scrutiny for some less than impressive defensive displays. However, the man himself is reportedly happy with his own form.
Boyd told Fox Sports that “I don’t know what outside noises have been saying, but my body is really good and my form I’m pretty happy with to be honest.”
“I know there has been a bit of talk about defence and different things, but I believe if we hold the ball a lot of us will pick up our performances.”
While Boyd is still making reasonable running metres, contributing a respectable 132 per game on average in 2019, it must be remembered that fullbacks run metres are generally elevated due to the above average metres gained on kick returns.
But bar running metres, Boyd's output has dropped in all other significant statistical areas. He scored five tries in 2018, in 2019 he has contributed zero. He contributed ten try assists at an average of 0.4 per game in 2018, so far in 2019 he has contributed two at an average of 0.25. His tackle efficiency has also dropped, and he is now in the top five NRL fullbacks for missed tackles.
While statistics do display to an extent Boyd's decline in form, there is no statistic available that displays that a player is shirking contact, which based on the evidence from the first eight rounds, Boyd is.
I can recall five separate occasions from the opening eight rounds in which Boyd has made subpar defensive efforts that have led to tries. Including, failing to make any attempt to tackle Angus Crichton as he crashed over for a try in round four, falling to the ground insipidly as Tigers bench forward Michael Chee Kam stepped passed Boyd to win the game for the Tigers in round five, failing to attempt a tackle on the Dragons' Cameron McInnes and instead going for an intercept in round three allowing him to stroll over untouched, and let's not forget the two, let's say questionable, attempted tackles on Cody Walker in their last start loss to the Broncos.
If you haven't seen any of the above errors, have a look at the highlights for each game, they don't paint a pretty picture for Boyd.
Following these aforementioned meagre tackling attempts, this has led many to call into question whether Boyd will see out the remaining three years of his $800,000 a season contract.
However, the man himself sees no such issue, responding with a resounding "yeah definitely" when pressed on whether he would see out the remainder of his contract at Red Hill.
After a solid 2018 and with a vastly inexperienced but promising side around him, it was hoped Boyd would revel in his third year of captaincy, however much like his teammates, Boyd has seen an alarming drop in form over the opening quarter of 2019.
Could it be the fact that it's his first year playing under a coach not named Wayne Bennett? Or are his 300 career games just catching up to him? Only Darius will know, but one thing is for sure, Boyd and his young Broncos will need to find a solution quickly, otherwise, the Broncos could be set to miss out on finals for only the fourth time in the NRL era.