Well, Friday night footy is back with the Bulldogs up against the Broncos in Ben Barba’s first outing against his old team.
It will be interesting to see the crowd at ANZ Stadium, specifically how many of them will be baying for Ben Barba’s blood.
The Broncos did well at the Nines until the grand final, when Barba was sidelined and the Cowboys won. In the last trial game the Broncos without Barba were destroyed by the Warriors.
With an untried halves pairing to start the season, the Broncos will be expecting Barba to inject some flair into the Broncos attack.
The Broncos averaged just 18.1 points per game in 2013 and need to find some more penetration in attack which was not evident in their two trials to date.
Ben Barba and Josh Hoffman are set to share the fullback and five-eighth role, with new skipper Corey Parker shifting from lock to prop.
Ex-Dragons winger Daniel Vidot makes his first NRL appearance for the Broncos and will have to deal with another ex-Dragon, Chase Stanley, in the centres for the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs in their last trial defeated the Storm 20-10 with Moses Mbye setting up three tries.
The Bulldogs at near full strength look far too strong for the confused Broncos without a Barba miracle.
I tip the Bulldogs to win well at home.
Fri 7 March Bulldogs v Broncos ANZ Stadium Nine 8:05PM
Teams
Broncos
1 Ben Barba 2 Daniel Vidot 3 Jack Reed 4 Dale Copley 5 Lachlan Maranta 6 Josh Hoffman 7 Ben Hunt 8 Josh McGuire 9 Andrew McCullough 10 Corey Parker (c) 11 Alex Glenn 12 Sam Thaiday 13 Matt Gillett Interchange 14 Ben Hannant 15 Martin Kennedy 16 Todd Lowrie 17 Jarrod Wallace 18 David Hala
Bulldogs
1 Sam Perrett 2 Mitch Brown 3 Josh Morris 4 Chase Stanley 5 Corey Thompson 6 Josh Reynolds 7 Trent Hodkinson 8 Aiden Tolman 9 Michael Ennis (c) 10 James Graham 11 Frank Pritchard (c) 12 Tony Williams 13 Dale Finucane Interchange 14 Josh Jackson 15 Pat O’Hanlon 16 Tim Browne 17 David Klemmer 19 Moses Mbye
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