Two tries on debut to winger Justin Carney helped Canberra to a 34-16 win against a lacklustre Brisbane in round 14 of the NRL today.
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Four years ago Carney, 19, was riding horses in show jumping events and playing for the Nyngan Tigers while living at Trangie in central western NSW.
Today he was “comfortable” in the world’s toughest rugby league competition.
“I wasn’t expecting any tries, I was very, very nervous,” Carney said.
The experience of Colin Best at centre helped the youngster.
“I think we had a full conversation there for a while, he made it real comfortable.”
Carney scored his first try by brushing off the poor defence of his opposite number Denan Kemp.
He again crossed in the 37th minute and was swamped by team mates who knew the game was in the bag.
A series of blunders by the Broncos didn’t help their cause.
Ben Hannant dropped the ball in the seventh minute and centre Joel Monaghan scooped it up and dashed 75 metres to score between the sticks.
Monaghan later came off with a strained abdominal muscle.
In the 27th minute the Broncos handed the Raiders a 60 metre leg up after kicking out on the full from the re-start.
There was some consolation in the second half for the Broncos through tries by captain Corey Parker and half Shane Perry.
Brisbane mentor Wayne Bennett had little praise for his side’s effort despite being prepared the effects of last Wednesday’s Origin match.
“We did it tougher than we should have done,” Bennett said, while acknowledging the tough position of Origin players like Sam Thaiday due to the competition schedule.
“I don’t know any sport in the world that does what we do to our players.
“I expected them to be probably flat today. You’d think after 28 years of trying they’d (NRL officials) have it right by now, wouldn’t you.”
Bennett refused to concede the Broncos were at risk of losing touch with the top four.
“We’re in a good position. The competition is that close and we know what we have got to do at our club, we’ve got to get good players on the footy field.”
The 2006 premiers, already facing an injury crisis, will be further damaged by a suspected broken collarbone to prop Joel Clinton.
Raiders skipper Alan Tongue refused to let the win give him any thoughts beyond next weekend’s match against the Bulldogs in Sydney.
“We take it one game at a time. (We have to) keep trying to improve our own game.”
Canberra moved to 12th place on 14 points.
Phil Coorey
Guest
I've been an advocate of pushing the origin back until after the season finishes. I'm here to follow my team and don't really care for the SOO in the first place, especially when I get to watch a crap team like St George beat Melbourne's reserve grade a couple of weeks ago.... It's not even much of a game anymore but imagine if they had the balls to play after the season. It would still be huge and clubs would not affected anywhere near as much...
The Link
Guest
Fair enough Spiro, but what's the solution? The NRL seems to try to acheive this at the moment through issuing byes. The Broncs didn't play the weekend after SOO 1 and will not after SOO 3. Is Bennett complaining that he didn't get 3 byes this year? When would you rather have the bye? Before Origin to ensure your 'baby' team isn't exposed, or after to assist with player welfare management? All I know if that there is no silver bullet here as removing rounds will lead to less revenue for teams, unthinkable in the current environment. Personally as a fan i'd rather see the top players play, regardless of whether they have to back up the Wed before or not.
Spiro Zavos
Expert
The analogy is wrong. But the point is right. There should be a better way of organising the NRL premiership and the SOO. As it stands now, the teams who contribute the most players to the SOO are the teams that get punished the most by their best players being unavailable for important club matches.
The Link
Guest
Wayne Bennett, for all his coaching prowess, needs a lesson in the reality of professional sport. His claim that no other professional sport gets its players to back up after a major event, citing Tennis, is plain wrong. Rafael Nadal, after winning the French Open on Sunday, backed up on the Wednesday at Queens to beat Jonas Bjorkman (6-2, 6-2). Of course backing up for a game of NRL is different than for Tennis, but Wayne, choose your analagies wisely.