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The missing piece in Broncos signing spree

28th July, 2017
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Will Bennett be at the Broncos in 2019? (AAP Image/Dan Peled)
Expert
28th July, 2017
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Have a flick back through the names of the starting props who’ve carried the Brisbane Broncos to an NRL premiership.

It’s an exclusive group of exceptional standard: Webcke, Civoniceva, Thorn, Lazarus, Carlaw, Gee, Hohn and Allen.

Amid the signing bonanza the Broncos have executed in recent weeks – with ten names inking new deals – the missing piece of the puzzle still seems to be that one tear away prop who simultaneously strikes fear into the opposition, bends the line regularly and boasts bankable consistency each week.

A few months back I was preparing to write a column about how Brisbane’s forward pack was set to undergo its most important regime change of the past decade.

At that stage Herman Ese’ese was playing supremely, Tevita Pangai Junior was offering great variation and punch off the bench and Korbin Sims had started the season full of vigour while Jaydn Su’A and George Fai among others were still waiting in the wings.

How massive a difference a handful of rounds can make.

Ever since Ese’ese signalled his intention to head south to Newcastle next season, you get the feeling coach Wayne Bennett’s succession plan for his pack has taken a major blow.

Perhaps that was why he reacted so bitterly. More hinged on that failed retention than was first apparent.

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The Broncos are still a good team and will be in the reckoning come finals time, but their roadmap for the path ahead seems less assured – and they are missing the x-factor up front.

Aside from Ese’ese’s defection, Pangai Junior is yet to start a game or play more than 40 minutes this season, and Sims has ran more than 100m just five times in 18 appearances, with a season-best of 112m.

Francis Molo has been released, Keegan Hipgrave has already packed his bags for the Gold Coast Titans, and nobody seems to know for sure what lays ahead for Matt Lodge.

Next year Brisbane’s forward stalwarts will all be closer the end of their careers than the start.

Sam Thaiday, who has already been told season 2018 will be his last at Red Hill, is set to turn 33.

Adam Blair will be 32, Matt Gillett and Alex Glenn will be 30, and Andrew McCullough and Josh McGuire will be 28.

Unless something drastic happens, the suspicion is Thaiday will be the only one of that group who will retire with a premiership in Broncos colours.

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Sam Thaiday Portrait

(AAP Image/David Crosling)

Brisbane already has a backline of All Star quality, one which will be added to in 2018 by the arrival of Jack Bird.

But at this point in time it seems the hopes of fresh, rejuvenating blood in the forwards rest on good intentions, rather than any certainties.

Of course to now the name Joe Ofahengaue has been left out of this conversation, and that’s not necessarily a slight on what he can offer when he’s at his best.

But for a player who once ran for 0m as a starting prop, and has only been picked 11 times this season, his promising recent form does not provide a cast-iron guarantee for seasons ahead.

We’ve heard for a while how Payne Haas will become the player of a generation when he finally makes grade.

That’s a hell of an expectation to rest on the head of a guy who won’t even turn 20 until 2019.

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Don’t forget people used to call Andrew McCullough “the next Darren Lockyer” – and while he’s been a great servant, it hasn’t guaranteed him any premiership rings.

Haas’s transition to the big time would certainly benefit from being brought through with a feared and revered colossus showing the way.

Would Parramatta have come back from 12-0 down last night if Webcke, Civoniceva or Lazarus were piloting the ball forward relentlessly, with backrowers like Tallis, Ryan, Campion and Carroll up their clacker?

Would blokes like Nathan Brown and Kenny Edwards had as much success rattling their cage and getting under their skin?

I have to admit there’s been a part of me half-expecting this year’s Broncos signing spree would include an earth-shaking manoeuvre like Lazarus’s recruitment in the early 1990s.

It hasn’t come and you have to wonder if Brisbane’s window of opportunity has been opened, only for the fog to creep in.

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