Parramatta Eels five-eighth Jonah Pezet has produced arguably his finest performance in the NRL to shock the Broncos 40-32 at Suncorp Stadium, the outfit he will join from next year on a three-year deal.
Pezet finished with four try assists and the final try on Thursday night, celebrating by punting the ball into the crowd of Brisbane fans who, come 2027, will be cheering for him.
But after conceding an early penalty, coming up with a poor dropped ball, and missing a tackle that allowed Broncos prop Payne Haas to score untouched, the 23-year-old was a pensive figure in the sheds after the game.
He revealed his turning point in the match was his role alongside Josh Addo-Carr in a try-saving effort on Brisbane edge forward Jordan Riki, desperately holding him up over the line and forcing a mistake.
“I was pretty ordinary in the first 20,” Pezet said.
“I let Payno go through untouched, and I think I had an error early. I wasn’t great, but that’s footy – you just have to worry about the next moment and get on with it.
“[The Riki tackle] probably switched my mentality a little bit when I got physical, and actually used my shoulders for once. I need to keep doing that and take that into next week.
“That start I had tonight, I can’t do that next week and for the next 25 rounds, either. I need to start well and be physical from the start – I missed the jump tonight.
“When you make an error you just have to get on with it and get on with my next job.
“My job is to help this team score points and take pressure off Mitchell [Moses] – I guess in the last 60 minutes of the game I did that, but I need to start doing that for 80 minutes.”
Pezet’s desire to play instinctively appeared to free up his halfback Moses, who finished with a pair of try assists himself for fullback Isaiah Iongi.
Pezet endured a trial by fire in his Eels debut last week, copping a battering from former Melbourne Storm teammate Joe Chan in a 52-4 defeat. But come his clash with Brisbane, he played with a newfound freedom – taking the line on before dissecting the Broncos’ left edge defence.
Pezet threw the final pass for Kelma Tuilagi’s two barnstorming efforts to score, his first with an early ball and second after taking the line on and offering a late pass.
His grubber intended for himself then forced a rare error from Haas for Eels hooker Ryley Smith to capitalise on, with those three assists coming after the Eels were tackled inside the Broncos’ 20-metre line just twice in the opening stanza.
Come the second half, his instinctive kick through plenty of defensive traffic set up Sean Russell in the corner, before he punted ahead for himself once again with a minute on the clock to score and seal a dramatic win.
“That’s just my footy brain taking over and what I’ve been doing since I was a kid – taking the line on and creating opportunities for others and myself,” Pezet said.
“It gets a bit quick there with the six agains, it’s going to keep getting quicker and quicker, and me and Mitch need to be on the ball and take those opportunities. We did that in the second half.”
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