Cullen’s faith in Henjak defies the stats

Roar Guru

By ScottWoodward.me, 16 Jan 2010 ScottWoodward.me is a Roar Guru

Tagged:: Brisbane Broncos, Bruno Cullen, Ivan Henjak, NRL, Rugby League

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Many rugby league fans, and especially Bronco supporters, are wondering why CEO Bruno Cullen extended the contract of club coach Ivan Henjak for a further two years beyond this season.

Henjak literally came in to bat after Bradman when he took over the Broncos last year after the great Wayne Bennett. The team finished 6th after looking like missing the semis for the first time in 17 years, after being humiliated by the Raiders 56 to nil.

The Broncos stat sheet does not read well and it is difficult to justify why Cullen felt compelled to risk so much money on a contract extension when no other club will be chasing his coach.

Broncos 2009 Stats:
Metres Gained 14th
Line Breaks 12th
Offloads Last
Points Conceded 14th
Tries Conceded 15th
Metres Conceded 13th
LB Conceded 15th
Offloads Conceded 14th
Missed Tackles Last

The Broncos invested over $400,000 a season in Issy Folau and Henjak played him at right wing for half the season and then switched him to his weaker side playing him left center.

Bronco fans were excited about young prop David Taylor, considered the next big thing, but Henjak banished him to their feeder club. It was not until he brought him back into the side that the Broncos started winning again.

The Rabbitohs saw a talent being wasted and signed him.

Some of the young forwards must have been scratching their heads when Henjak brought Tonnie Carroll back from retirement looking like he had swallowed a sheep.

The Broncos simply looked poorly coached, missing an average of 42.4 tackles each game. Premiers the Melbourne Storm averaged 27.4.

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The Crowd Says (3) | Page 1 of Comments

macavity said | January 16th 2010 @ 11:31am | Report comment

as the epitome of everything wrong with the greatest game, it is fantastic to see the donkeys struggle. here is hoping they win spoon after spoon.

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ScottWoodward.me said | January 16th 2010 @ 11:43am | Report comment

macavity I have no truck with the Broncos and curious to know why you think they represent “everything wrong with the game”, but my point was why invest good money on something that in not needed.
The Broncos may very well make the top 4 and that would be a good time to extend contracts but not based on what we have seen to date.

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Trad McLean said | January 27th 2010 @ 3:37pm | Report comment

Scott Woodward,

You forgot to mention that Ivan got the team to the preliminary final, the furthest the club has been since the 2006 grand final.

Oh and Scott – the Broncos did make the top four last year. That’s what the preliminary finalists are – the last four teams left in the race. The team went one match short of the grand final, being beating by eventual premiers Melbourne.

It seems this was the only ‘stat’ you missed.

Blogs are just blogs Scott, but it seems you focussed purely on negatives and did not mention any of the positives here. Some balance, please.

Regards

Trad McLean
Broncos Media Manager

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