Broncos players sucked in by hype: Lodge

Prop Lodge became the first Broncos player to speak publicly about Thursday's loss - the biggest in the club's history - when he fronted media at training on Sunday.

It came after the players were shielded from interviews after the match, prompting heavy criticism from former players and fans.

Lodge conceded accusations the team gave up too easily were fair, and refused to use their youth and inexperience, and a perceived lack of leadership, as an excuse.

"We haven't built that hard resilience up when things don't go our way. They're definitely right about that," Lodge said.

"That's not through fault of being young. That's just a personal thing that we all need to be better at and learn how to deal with those hard situations.

"A Darren Lockyer would help us swing games like that, but he's not here so we need to adapt and learn how to do it. Just not put in a performance like that."

Lodge pointed out the Broncos were far more experienced when they suffered their previous record defeat - only four games ago when they lost 58-0 to Parramatta in last year's finals.

Veterans Andrew McCullough and Matt Gillett are gone from that team.

"We had older players in that game, (yet) the result hasn't changed," Lodge said.

"It's just, individuals need to be better. Maybe across the board some people aren't as good as what they think and we got plenty of work to do to be a better team."

Lodge, who said he wasn't immune from the criticism, said the Broncos may have bought into the hype of being considered as having the best forwards in the NRL.

"(The media) say, 'They're the best pack in the comp, they're this, they're that.' I just feel sometimes that maybe we would buy into that," he said.

"We haven't ticked any boxes. We haven't achieved anything.

"We haven't won the comps they did in the 90s. The Roosters are the best forward pack in the comp because they've won the premierships.

"We've got a lot of work to do and we've got to put our head down to get better at a lot of things before we start looking into that best pack in the comp."

Lodge insisted he isn't alone in taking ownership for the defeat.

"Hiding from the media is not a thing here. That was honestly a mistake," he said.

"We didn't know they wanted to talk to us. If anyone asks a question about a shit performance, everyone here is happy to own up to it."

The Broncos have reacted to the lopsided defeat by making a raft of changes, including shifting winger Corey Oates to the second row to face Manly next week.

Xavier Coates is expected to be named on the wing, with Lodge returning to the run-on side along with Kotoni Staggs and Joe Ofahengaue.

Australian Associated Press