Season preview: Brisbane Broncos

If there’s one team that will bear the criticism following the worst season in their illustrious history, it’s the Brisbane Broncos.

Of all the 16 clubs last year, the Brisbane Broncos were the team that disappointed many the most.

Despite fielding a good mix of experience, talent and a recycled old favourite (think Scott Prince), the team underperformed on the field and it resulted in their worst season in a quarter of a century of existence.

The club has long lost its status as one of the glamour clubs of the NRL, with premiership holders the Sydney Roosters currently holding that honour.

However, following the club’s spending spree, which we are about to discover, the Broncos may once again regain its status as one of the most attractive clubs not just in the NRL, but also in Australian sport.

As it stands, the club is now enduring its longest premiership drought, having not captured the premiership since 2006, and from that team, only Corey Parker, Justin Hodges, Sam Thaiday and David Stagg remain.

There is also a change of leadership within the club – with Parker and Hodges, the club’s two most experienced players, to assume the co-captaincy with Thaiday standing aside after two seasons.

Although instant premiership success will not be expected from the Broncos in 2014, they can at least draw on what the Sydney Roosters were able to achieve last year, whereby they responded to a disappointing 2012 by going on a signing spree, and climbing the premiership podium last season.

The players
As has already been mentioned, new co-captains Corey Parker and Justin Hodges, as well as ex-captain Sam Thaiday and David Stagg are the only survivors from the club’s most recent premiership eight years ago.

Hodges’ 2013 was abruptly ended by an achilles injury in Round 22 and is fighting the clock in order to be available for Round 1, and is not expected to be 100% by the time he returns, whether it’d be then or later in the season.

Those players aside, the Broncos’ arrival lounge is headed by none other than Ben Barba, who returns home after six years at the Bulldogs, during which he won the Dally M Medal in 2012 and led the club to the grand final in the same year.

He has cited his desire to be closer to family as one of the reasons for signing with the Broncos, but to the fans, he will be seen as the messiah as the six-time premiers seek to return to the finals this season after such a disappointing 2013.

In the same manner in which the hype surrounded Sonny Bill Williams when he arrived at the Sydney Roosters twelve months ago, you get the feeling that something similar may happen with Barba and the Broncos this year.

Already, the Broncos are talking up a switch from fullback to five-eighth for Barba, which would see the Bulldogs import fill the void left by Corey Norman, who has headed south to Parramatta, and ensure first-choice fullback Josh Hoffman has a place in the line-up.

Such a move would mirror that of Darren Lockyer, who midway through his career made the move from fullback to five-eighth with reaped success, including captaining the side to the 2006 premiership.

Todd Lowrie, Stewart Mills, Martin Kennedy and Daniel Vidot are the club’s other notable imports, while Scott Anderson, Scott Prince, Dunamis Lui and Peter Wallace, among others, have all left the club.

The Broncos’ playing list is now one that can return to the finals this year, but it’s the Roosters’ spending spree from twelve months ago which will serve as the inspiration as the Broncos attempt to end their longest premiership drought.

The draw
The Broncos’ season will kick off with a trip down to Sydney’s ANZ Stadium, where its star signing, Ben Barba, will have to prepare to face a baptism of fire against the club he left last year, the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs.

The first grudge match of the season will, injury pending, see Barba officially unleashed in Broncos colours for the first time (not including the Auckland Nines), as he shows his old club why he decided to make the move up north.

The 2012 Dally M Medallist is coming off a tough 2013 season but a move back home could be what he exactly needs as he looks to regain the form that saw him reign as the best player in the NRL two years ago.

It will be the first in a string of ten consecutive Friday night matches to start the season, a scheduling move that has angered New South Wales fans, but delighted their Queensland counterparts.

One of the reasons for this is due to the Broncos rating very well on Channel Nine in Brisbane, whereby any Friday night matches involving the club are always shown live to their viewers.

The traditional home derby against the Cowboys will follow a week later, before they welcome the 2013 premiers, the Sydney Roosters, to Suncorp Stadium for only the fourth time since the ground’s redevelopment was completed in 2003.

The Broncos will also enjoy double-ups against the Dragons, Titans, Knights, Rabbitohs, Titans, Warriors and Storm.

Their two showdowns against traditional rivals the Storm will take place after the State of Origin series has concluded, with the latter of those matches, a final round trip to Melbourne, to test the finals credentials of the club as they look to return to the finals this season.

Thus, it will be a season of blockbusters for the Broncos and their fans, who simply cannot take yet another year without the team winning the premiership.

The verdict
The Broncos underwent the biggest overhaul to their playing list in recent history, and so there will be no excuses if the team cannot turn around their on-field fortunes and return to where they deserve to be in 2014 – the finals.

Of course, they cannot over-rely on Ben Barba to change the club’s fortunes, in the same way the Roosters didn’t over-rely on SBW during their successful premiership assault last year.

The four survivors who remain from the club’s most recent premiership eight years ago will be the core of experience, and they would all love to feature in one more premiership team before their careers are out.

Looking at the playing list, and the draw, it’s the perfect recipe for a return to the finals in 2014. Perhaps a premiership is possible, but as the saying goes, anything can happen.

Prediction
5th