Former Australian forward Paul Gallen has ripped into the Brisbane Broncos after the struggling club fell to 0-2 to start the season.

The Broncos drifted out of Friday night’s Queensland derby against Gold Coast and were never seen again – eventually going down 28-16.

“The excuses are over. They’ve got some good players still to come back into their side, like Payne Haas and Kotoni Staggs, who will hopefully boost them but we’re talking about first grade here,” Gallen wrote for the Wide World of Sports website.

“You’ve got to be real. If you’re picked in first grade, you have to do a job. This isn’t blokes running around in reserves just getting a go. This is the NRL and we’re talking about the game’s richest and most powerful club.

“I actually picked Brisbane to win on the weekend. I thought I’d seen some signs of life in Round One against Parramatta, which they could carry into Round Two.

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“I thought that the Broncos and Titans were matched pretty evenly and Milford and Croft could get it over the Gold Coast halves, Ash Taylor and Jamal Fogarty. Yet Brisbane’s halves just didn’t steer them around the park at all.”