Right now, the Brisbane Broncos are facing an outside-back injury crisis. Their two most skilful and solid wingers, Jharal Yow Yeh and Dale Copley, are both out and likely to be out for the rest of 2013.
Their possible replacements consist of the following:
Lachlan Maranta, a young, talented winger who has played only six NRL games.
Delroy Berryman, a young, talented winger from Redcliffe who has played no NRL games.
Jordan Kahu, a young, talented utility who has played no NRL games due mainly to the fact that he’s been out injured for the last two seasons.
Denan Kemp, the not-quite-as-young-as-the-rest-of-them journeyman who’s returning for stint No.3 at the Broncos.
All of them are 25 or younger, all of them have decent amounts of skill and all of them are certainly desperate to get a spot on the wing.
The question is – who?
Well, if trials are anything to go by, it’s… no one in particular.
All four of them have played in the two trials so far, playing at wing and centre.
Kemp has had the best form, scoring a try in each game, but strangely, he was the only one left out of the final trial in Dunedin.
He certainly has the edge in experience, playing in 42 NRL matches to date, with a strike rate of 0.54 tries per game. Given he’s only had one month to impress at training, he’ll be relying on reputation more than anything.
Maranta is the only other player to have played in the NRL and from what we saw of him last season, he’s certainly earned the right to play at that level.
Kahu and Berryman are both undeniably skilled, but neither has played in the NRL, which is something that will really count against them.
I believe Kemp and Maranta will end up with Numbers 2 and 5, due only to the fact that both of them have played first grade before. However, if one of them shows dodgy form, you can bet your bottom dollar that they will immediately be dumped.
All Anthony Griffin wants from both of them is consistency – the good kind, not the bad kind where a player consistently drops the ball over the try line. If they can finish every chance they’re given by the rest of the team, Griffin will be happy.
The Brisbane wings used to be the stomping ground of players like Wendell Sailor, Lote Tuqiri, Mick Hancock and Mick De Vere. If my prediction proves correct, they now have two players with less than 50 games of experience under their belt.
Only time will tell how they manage the pressure.
Dogs Of War
Roar Guru
No way the Broncos had the worst backline, that belonged to the Sharks.
stormtrooper4
Guest
Brisbane has one of the worst back lines of the teams that made up the top 8 last year. Wallace and Norman simply didn't create anything as a fifth tackle option. The problem that brisbane has is that it has one of the more ordinary backlines in the comp. At the beginning of last season the forwards were carrying the team until they ran out of steam at the end of the year. This year brisbane should be lucky to make the eight which i think they will just make but have no fear of them challenging for the premiership with the squad that they have now. I think what they need to do is make a play for a genuine super star.
Bigjohn
Guest
Yes, Maranta should be given the opportunity.... Apparently he is Brett Plowmans son, and thats good enough for me.
Brendan
Guest
No you cant have a winger crisis in any other city but BNE... if they had more then one team the talent would be spread more evenly across the teams and the fans would have something more important to talk about.
redbur95
Roar Rookie
I completely agree that Copley bombed more than a handful of tries, but I was hoping to see how he had improved this season. I guess I'll have to wait until next year.
Dogs Of War
Roar Guru
Yeah, but when you get those big wingers with a bit of pace, you can't just find them anywhere. They can act like extra forwards, especially in the first few tackles after a kick.
peeeko
Roar Guru
Exactly
The Barry
Roar Guru
Can you have a winger crisis ??? You can usually find a winger from somewhere and you can play youngsters there that you can't play in the halves or the forwards. If I was running a club I'd have young blokes on the wing and as soon as they made a name for themselves and started demanding too much salary cap I'd offload them and bring in the next lot of hungry youngsters.
Josiah
Guest
Maranta stepped up in 2013 in the couple games he had played. However, I totally disagree with the notion that Copley is one of our most important wingers.. It was only at the end of last season where Copley actually stood up and put on some big hits and valuable plays. It is a shame to lose him.
Adam
Roar Guru
Admittedly, I probably didn’t watch as much of the Broncos as I could have since they’re usually the delayed Friday game in Sydney (already knowing the score + fairly boring style of play + Ray Hadley’s horse-racing style of commentary… not a recipe for ratings!) — but I’ve never been sold on Hoffman. I can only think of one or two games in the last couple of years where he’s really looked the goods. Norman has some weaknesses but he’s a lot younger too — and very dynamic. It’ll be interesting to see how those contract negotiations pan out. if he is done at the Broncos I reckon he’d be a great pick-up for Parra or whoever else is circling.
rl
Guest
Adam, that's certainly an option to consider. But I agree with the notion that Maranta has more than earned his shot, be interesting to see how Kemp goes with a bit more fitness. There's an interesting dynamic going on under the surface, with Norman fielding offers to change clubs, and Thurston in the market. Personally, I think Norman's best position is fullback, and moving him there might give him some certainty about his place at the Broncos. But by putting him there do you risk making Josh Hoffman unhappy (who I think is a better fullback). At the end of the day I think the Broncs would (reluctantly) say goodbye to Norman, if it meant retaining some other good young talent, or freeing up $$$ to make a run at Thurston.
Adam
Roar Guru
Wouldn't Josh Hoffman be another option? With Prince and Wallace now available in the halves I could see Norman switching to fullback and Hoffman being pushed wide.
Lachiesnow
Guest
Dale Copley?! The Broncos best choice for winger?! Those two statements should never be said together. He is a fringe player at best who drops the ball more than he catches it. I'd suggest the Broncos will benefit from letting Maranta (who had a cracker 2012) or dare I say it Kemp, step up to the mark for Round 1 -- Comment left via The Roar's iPhone app. Download it now [http://itunes.apple.com/au/app/the-roar/id327174726?mt=8].
peeeko
Roar Guru
i don't think it is much of a concern, wingers are often at their best in their early days and come on to the scene rather quickly. i would be a lot more worried if they were in other positions beside the wing