They conceded six tries and lost the game 38-6 - but Brisbane Broncos coach Anthony Seibold declared his side’s defensive performance on Thursday night their best of the 2019 season.

All the talk in the lead up to the Round 8 blockbuster centred around the two coaches - Seibold and Wayne Bennett - after their contentious job swap in early December.

Seibold’s struggling Broncos were no match for a rampant Rabbitohs outfit as Bennett’s men hopped ahead of the Sydney Roosters and Melbourne Storm and into top spot on the NRL ladder.

But after their sixth loss in eight matches to start the season, Seibold argued things weren’t as bad as the giant ANZ Stadium scoreboard suggested after the final siren.

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“We showed some real glimpses and believe it or not tonight was actually our best defensive display as far as effective contact, and so on,” Seibold said.

“I think we were 92 percent (in effective contact) … and we made more tackle breaks than Souths tonight, we missed less tackles than them tonight but we were on the wrong side of the scoreline.

“So I’m probably more concerned with yeah, finding some small margins and forgetting about the points table for a little while.”

Pressed on what his Broncos could have done better defensively given the scoreline, Seibold suggested there was an element of luck to the Bunnies’ first three tries – two to Cody Walker and an intercept try to Adam Reynolds – in the first 27 minutes.

“Well we just spoke about the first 18 points didn’t we – an intercept try, Alex Johnston dropped the footy but got his boot to it (to set up Cody Walker’s first try) and then Cody (scored another try) on the last (tackle).

“So they’re not system errors, they’re not missed tackles.”

Meanwhile, Seibold defended 18-year-old half-back Tom Dearden’s performance on debut, declaring ‘he certainly wasn’t out of his depth’.