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.
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.
(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.
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.
Daniel Caughlan
Guest
Payne haas
Daniel Caughlan
Guest
Time for Kevin Walters to coach broncs we will win comp within three year's
doogs
Guest
Maybe we can see more televised games of empty chairs
doogs
Guest
based on that you could easily say the same about the Sharks. They have been top heavy with State and International players the last couple of years. I don't really care about that. They are a tough team. I don't like them but I respect them. These postings about Broncos TPAs are the most boring you could ever read. I don't like to respond normally but it is so old. Find something new to ramble about please
Psychodelia
Guest
Nico Could NOT agree more. Wonder what pure as the driven snow, massively achieving but hard done by clubs they support. It is nothing short of completely EMBARRASSING to see those rows and rows of empty seats at those games. NOT a great look at all for the promotion of the game. Maybe they could get some talented 3D artist to paint in a few more fans.
Psychodelia
Guest
Gaz knows maths - wow maybe he can teach ol' Kangajets that a 2006 premiership win by the Broncs equates to 11 years, and not the 17 he purports. Plus, for the Broncos to go down by a field goal in extra time in 2015 - well, maybe they lost the game, but it was hardly a shellacking, in one of the most thrilling GFs ever, gutted though I was on the night.
Psychodelia
Guest
Kangajets Oh here we go again, the person who thinks the Broncs haven't won a premiership in 17 YEARS! Go and practice some basic maths. You are really getting tiresome, hackneyed and boring.
Psychodelia
Guest
What a great post! You covered all the bases. Wayne has apparently not offered Benji any more money and I think that's a mistake. He has been offered other roles within the NRL that will pay a lot better and he deserves better than the crumbs they are throwing him. The man's a true professional. Milf is so frustrating! So so talented, but as you say, lacks consistency, as do most of the team. I am feeling GUTTED about Andrew McCullough.
Psychodelia
Guest
You are right about Packer being a horrible human being, who can't even control the flow of his urine for a 40 minute set. A kindergarten kid could do better in that respect. No, we don't want that creature in the Broncs. It's bad enough we have Blair - damn if I had been sitting on the plane behind him on the way home from the Eels game, my glare would have turned him to stone.
Psychodelia
Guest
Kangajets 2006 GF winners. Even by my rudimentary mathematical standards, that is ELEVEN years. And they may not have won 2 years ago, but only by a field goal in extra time, hardly what I'd call 'unsuccessful'.
Nat
Roar Guru
There's a couple but its the issue they have now, too young. Our young fellas are good but still 2/3yrs off muturing into good props. We weren't talking about Petro, Webke, Gee, Brick at 21yo. These's a young fella, can't think of hi name, huge kid.
Gray-Hand
Guest
Okay, so your understanding of the salary cap, corporate sponsorship and TPAs in the NRL is nothing more than rudimentary at best and everything you have posted comes from your imagination. TPAs have to be disclosed to the NRL. The broncos are an ASX listed company, and directors that breach the salary cap can get personally sued or potentially go to jail if they get caught. For that reason, the broncos probably run the tightest salary cap out of any club in the league. Brisbane might be a one team town, but that doesn't mean that every company in Brisbane will only sponsor the Broncos. And they can't because the Broncos don't accept sponsors that compete with existing sponsors. Plenty of Brisbane based firms sponsor other NRL teams.
Nico
Guest
Hey, here's another great way of increasing sponsorship revenue for Sydney fans - actually going to a game rather than stewing at home hyperventilating about tpas. Last night Souths jagged 9000, Roosters 9000 for a game against a top 8 side, pathetic. Which sponsor would actually want to pay top dollar to display their brand in a cavernous near empty stadium
Robert Burgin
Expert
I'm not saying it makes sense. I just know it was said. We're talking somewhere around 2005 and I believe by The Courier-Mail. Thanks to the discontinuation of Newstext, it's not easy to cite. I think the comparison was partly because McCullough is from Dalby and Lockyer was from Wandoan. But anyway, it's not really the crux of this article
Emcie
Roar Guru
They all keep getting poached by other clubs
Jara W
Guest
Yeah this!! There was plenty of press about the reduced interchange and cleaning up the ruck being the death of the big man. But the big men got fitter and the ruck stayed slow. Consequently Bennett jumped the gun on a forward pack with all the same body type.
Gaz
Roar Rookie
Edward Kelly "I can do maths" - can you really! Moga and Ese-ese to the Knights. Arrow to the Titans. Marshall looking elsewhere. Opacic fielding better offers. Struggling to keep their own players particularly the youngsters they have bought through their system. Clearly the salary cap is as it should be in Brisbane. Did you really do any maths or are you parroting the same ole same ole. Incidentally, Melbourne is a one team town, so is Gold Coast, Newcastle, Townsville, Canberra and Auckland.
Kreig
Guest
I live in NZ now, so am out of the developmental loop. Are there any promising young forwards coming up through the system?
RM
Guest
Damn! Missed that bit of news.
Gus
Guest
Roosters have never done this paper bag thing your talking about- need to be careful what you post for legal reasons even in jest. Bronco's are a company listed on ASX. Don't know what your beef is about TPA's as this is legal under the cap and these require approval from the NRL in any case.