Mastermind season review: Brisbane Broncos

After enduring their worst season in more than 25 years existence, the Brisbane Broncos were expected by many to bounce back in 2014. That’s exactly what they did, despite only finishing eighth.

The signing of 2012 Dally M Medallist Ben Barba was the most significant news to rock Red Hill since Darren Lockyer’s retirement at the end of 2011.

While it took a while for him to rediscover his top form, he did so after switching to five-eighth midway through the season.

Overall, however, the club’s inconsistency led them to only just sneaking into September. And despite coach Anthony Griffin’s best efforts, he has been moved on and it will be left to Wayne Bennett to lift the club.

Brisbane Broncos
Final ladder position: eighth (12 wins, 12 losses, +93 differential)

What went right?
The Broncos divided their win-loss column in 2014, though they could only settle with seven wins at home, of which only three were against fellow finalists (Cowboys, Sea Eagles and Bulldogs).

Their attack was the fifth-best in the competition and it delivered some big scores, including 41 points against the Bulldogs in Round 22 and 48 against the Knights in Round 24.

Halfback Ben Hunt also displayed impressive form, encouraging for fans bracing for the looming retirements of Johnathan Thurston and Cooper Cronk. Hunt is being viewed by many as a potential Queensland State of Origin halfback.

What went wrong?
While the Broncos did improve from their lowly 12th place finish in 2013 to just sneak into the finals, losses to each of the top four teams on the ladder show how far they still have to come to return to the top.

Of those teams, the Broncos could only defeat the Sea Eagles at home, while they also suffered narrow early-season losses to the Roosters and Rabbitohs, also at home.

A lot was spoken of Ben Barba’s struggles to find his best form, and there were even rumours that he wasn’t going to be part of Wayne Bennett’s plans.

However, Barba was able to find good form as the season wore on, and it will be interesting to see where Bennett plays him next season, especially with Anthony Milford (and possibly Darius Boyd) joining the glut of fullbacks at the club.

Best win: defeated the Bulldogs 41-10 at Suncorp Stadium in Round 22
The Broncos enjoyed their largest marginal victory for the season five weeks out from the finals when they hammered the Bulldogs on the Friday night stage in Round 22.

The match saw Ben Barba and Ben Hunt combine in the halves for one of their best performances of the season, putting the former’s old club to the sword in the first half, leading 20-6, and getting on with the job in the second.

Worst loss: lost to the South Sydney Rabbitohs 42-16 at ANZ Stadium in Round 23
The Broncos didn’t really suffer any humiliating losses in 2014, but one that does stand out is their 26-point loss to South Sydney on August 14, which came six nights after their win over the Bulldogs.

Rabbitohs fullback Greg Inglis ripped through the Broncos as the Bunnies scored four tries after conceding the first. Broncos fans were left wondering what might have been had GI signed for Brisbane.

It eventually resulted in the Broncos suffering their worst marginal defeat of the season, and exposed the club as pretenders. Inglis has proved to be the difference between the two clubs, with the Rabbitohs on target to end their 43-year premiership drought.

The future
With supercoach Wayne Bennett back at the club, it will be up to him to return the Broncos to their glory days which saw them win six premierships.

He has already stamped his authority on the club by removing the co-captaincy system which had been implemented by his predecessor. It now remains to be seen which out of Corey Parker or Justin Hodges will assume the full-time captaincy in 2015.

Anthony Milford is the club’s biggest signing, as he joins Josh Hoffman and Ben Barba as established fullbacks. Another, Darius Boyd, is rumoured to be on his way, as is former Warrior Russell Packer.

The only major loss is that of Jake Granville, who has headed north to Townsville with the Cowboys, while Jharal Yow Yeh announced his retirement from the game after failing to recover from a horrific ankle injury suffered early in the 2012 season.

The task is ahead of Bennett to extract the talent out of the squad he has inherited and mould them into the Broncos’ seventh premiership-winning side. Oh, and he’s only got three years to do it before he hands the club over to Kevin Walters in 2018.