Last week we reviewed the first eight teams to be eliminated from the NRL, with teams 16 to 13 first, and then teams 12 to nine.
This week we continue with a look at the clubs eliminated in the finals.
Brisbane Broncos
Once a finals certainty, the Broncos have in recent years have found themselves grappling in the mid-table mire and season 2014 was no different. The arrival of former Dally M winner and troubled soul Ben Barba came with much promise but plenty of questions about team make up.
Sadly Barba struggled in his first season in Brisbane and the club spent most of the year bouncing between sixth and 11th on the ladder. They eventually limped into the finals but were immediately blasted straight out again by their little brothers in Townsville.
The season was not a complete loss on the field with players like Ben Hunt, Dale Copley and Daniel Vidot making the jump from fringe first graders to genuine contributors. But of course the year will be mostly remembered for the knifing of Anthony Griffin and the re-signing of supercoach Wayne Bennett. Won’t that be interesting to watch unfold?
Best player: Ben Hunt
In 2008 Hunt led a loaded Broncos under-20s side to a grand final loss against the Canberra Raiders. Since that grand final Hunt has largely drifted through five seasons in the NRL as a marginal utility, mostly backing up Andrew McCulloch at dummy half. Then in late 2013 Hunt suddenly found his feet as an NRL half.
His late season surge in 2013 turned out to be no fluke and Hunt not only orchestrated much of the Broncos’ success this year but also rocketed into State of Origin contention. At a time when the club is overloaded with playmakers, including the imminent arrival of wunderkind Anthony Milford, Hunt’s job at halfback is unquestioned.
Highlight: Making the finals
After Anthony Griffin was unceremoniously given the flick halfway through the year, and speculation began to mount about the future of many key players, the team could have been forgiven for quitting on season 2014. However, they hung on and with a little help from their friends managed to flop into eighth place.
Honourable mention: Jharal Yow Yeh
Early in the year the sad tale of Yow Yeh as an NRL player was brought to its conclusion. After suffering a horrific broken leg in 2012 Yow Yeh worked for 18 months to get himself back on the field. And while the comeback was short lived, the tremendous support Yow Yeh received from his teammates deserves an honourable mention.
The majority of the Broncos players turned out to watch him play in reserve grade with Brisbane Norths. Yow Yeh will be missed but the players showed him plenty of love and respect on the way out.
Lowlight: Anthony Griffin’s treatment
This relates to both the Broncos management and supercoach Wayne Bennett. After previously indicating he would not take another coach’s job, Bennett reportedly worked over a number of key board members to get himself brought back to the club and thereby send Griffin packing. One can only hope that a Griffin-led team gets to give it back to the Broncos in the near future.
Dishonourable mention: Cronulla loss
At 22-0 up after 50 or so minutes against the lowly Cronulla Sharks, Broncos fans were settling in for a traditional Friday night routing at Suncorp. Twenty-five minutes later those same fans stumbled out of the stadium very confused after the Sharks put on four tries to record a famous victory.
Prognosis
As the only team in a city of more than two million people the Broncos enjoy massive advantages with access to juniors and sponsorship. Add in the obvious climate drawcard and it should be almost impossible for this team to miss the top four on a year-to-year basis.
However, the last three years have seen the team fail to advance beyond week one of the finals and the team are without a title since 2006. The return of the supercoach will energise many at the club but Bennett’s record at the Knights is mixed and it’s unclear what changes he may bring to the squad.
Moreover the Broncos management seem to have a bizarre fascination with fullbacks and at this stage are expected to have at least four players (Josh Hoffman, Milford, Barba and Greg Eden) in their 2015 squad whose best position is fullback. That’s before you even get to the super talented Nikorima brothers, Kodi and Jayden, currently destroying under-20s, and the possible recruitment of sad-eyed puppy dog Darius Boyd.
2015 prediction: Incomplete
It’s honestly impossible to know what to expect with the Broncos until Bennett takes over full stewardship of the team and remakes the roster.
Melbourne Storm
This was always going to be a challenging year for the Storm after the monstrous 2013 season that the fabled big three of Cameron Smith, Cooper Cronk and Billy Slater endured. Each played at least 22 NRL matches, three State of Origin games and five Test matches for Australia. In Cam Smith’s case it was a total of 33 games of rugby league.
So it should have come as no surprise that the team stumbled through much of 2014 looking jaded and disjointed. The loss of Cooper Cronk for half the season to a broken arm only reinforced the problems and the team limped into sixth place. That’s nothing to sneer at for many teams but it was the Strom’s lowest finish since 2005 (excluding the year they didn’t play for points after the salary cap revelations).
In the end the team ran out of gas altogether as they were humbled at home by the Bulldogs.
Best Player: Jesse Bromwich
With the big three struggling – by their standards – in 2014 it was left to the one of the lesser lights to step up for the Storm. Bromwich was among the better props in the competition this year and he led the line admirably for the club.
Highlight: N/A
Honestly there were no stand out moments for the Storm this year. After all it’s hard to have statement wins when you’re favoured in most games and have three quarters of the Test spine. What the Storm did have was rugged consistency. The team never lost more than two in a row and handled the absence of Cooper Cronk as well as could be expected.
Honourable mention: Ben Roberts
In nine seasons in first grade for the Bulldogs and Eels Ben Roberts has flattered to deceive, at times looking like a quality NRL half and at times looking like the third best option for a NSW Cup team. This year Roberts has been far more consistent and established himself as a solid first grade contributor.
Lowlight: Loss to the Bulldogs
Without a doubt the elimination final loss to the Canterbury Bulldogs was the worst moment of the Storm’s season. It is one thing to be eliminated, but to do it making 14 errors and 25 missed tackles in front of a home crowd is another. The Storm was humbled in week one of the finals and it could well be the end of an era for the team.
Dishonourable mention: Alex McKinnon’s injury
The injury to Alex McKinnon was a horrible accident but the behaviour of Cam Smith immediately after the incident was distasteful to say the least. Smith argued extensively with the referee that the incident didn’t warrant a penalty and that McKinnon had contributed to the way the tackle played out.
Regardless of whether this was true, maybe when a bloke is in a neck brace and being stretchered off isn’t the best time to argue the finer points of the rules. Smith has long aggravated opposition fans with his lawyerly arguments with referees, but this was particularly unpleasant.
Prognosis: Negative
The biggest advantage you have when you cheat the salary cap, as the Storm notoriously did between 2006 and 2010 isn’t that you can retain your star players. It’s that you can surround those players with a better quality of role player. During the 2007 to 2009 run in particular, the Storm could boast far and away the deepest squad in the competition with players like Adam Blair, Sika Manu and Jeremy Smith regularly relegated to the bench.
However, since the cheating was revealed in 2010 those excellent role players have been steadily pared away from the club, with Ryan Hoffman the latest to depart. Now that they’re on a level playing field the Storm are finding that you need to choose between a Kevin Proctor and a Ryan Hoffman rather than keep both.
So while the Storm are still developing some talent such as Tohu Harris and Mahe Fonua and the big three are still the big three, it is going to get increasingly difficult for the Storm to compete. Especially as Cronk (30) Slater (31) and Smith (31) inevitably begin to decline.
2015 Prediction: Fringe of the eight
Despite the long-term prognosis the big three are still influential. The early exit from the finals this year may actually help them recover for next season. Though Craig Bellamy would be secretly hoping for his star players to pick up niggling injuries so they can withdraw from the four nations and get even more rest. Expect the Storm to continue to compete, but also expect them to struggle at times.
Follow Lachlan on Twitter @mrsports83
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