BY KANE AUSTIN

Legendary Brisbane Broncos coach Wayne Bennett is happy to lose if his team continue to put in.

Speaking ahead of their Friday night blockbuster against the Canberra Raiders, Bennett believes the Broncos are headed in the right direction.

“It is not that we aren’t playing well – we are playing well,” he said.

“We have just let ourselves down a bit with execution.

“If we can play again like we have the last three weeks we will be in there with a real chance.

“The team has been tremendous.

“They played a pretty tough game on Thursday night – look at the Cowboys and how flat they were on Saturday night.

“You have to understand what hurts you in this game.

“We went to Melbourne five days later and played a tough game – the Cowboys had some injuries and they struggled.

“Emotionally and physically the games take it out of you.

“I have to look at facts and reality, and that is we played a hell of a game against Mebourne and got beaten by a couple of points.

“We just need to execute better tomorrow and have a litte bit more of an engine tomorrow, that the extra seven or eight days might give us.”

The Raiders are coming of a slashing win against Wests Tigers but a road trip to Suncorp Stadium will be a true marker as to where they’re at.