The Brisbane Broncos have not hoisted the premiership trophy in 12 years – their longest stint ever – so why should 2018 be any different?
Offseason
Playing football for 12 years, the offseason always meant a body of work that could define the outcome of an entire season.
Nothing comes easy, you learn that very quickly. Coaches bark in your ear. You regret eating those extra fruit mince pies over Christmas as you lay sprawled over the sideline with your lungs on fire.
You sweat it out in conditions that are not suited for even the most elite athletes. Your mates are at the beach, but not you. You suffer heat stroke, you throw up – not once, but several times. You become closer with teammates and you train with one goal in mind.
September.
Off season means recruitment, refining and repetition in order to achieve the best outcome for the year ahead. For many with a roster built with talent, achieving nothing less than playing September finals football is considered a failure, a waste of a body of work months in the making.
The usual suspects will be there come September: Sydney Roosters, Melbourne Storm, North Queensland Cowboys, Parramatta Eels and the Brisbane Broncos. However, the offseason brings questions and for a side who hasn’t hoisted the trophy in 12 years.
(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
The offseason is a funny thing. It can lead to predicitons and outcomes before a whistle has even been blown. Why you ask? It is simply human nature. We expect a team to achieve based on moves, prior success and outcomes of the year before. We expect individual players to perform, to relish the faith of the fans and the city behind them.
With a premiership drought spanning 12 years, what is to be expected of the Brisbane Broncos in 2018? Predicting outcomes is something I hate coming into footy season every year – just look at how St George panned out last year. For many teams, but in particular the Brisbane Broncos, no matter how much analysis or how much scrutiny they face, truth be told – their fate in 2018 depends on just how much they want to play for one another.
The Brisbane Broncos have flown under the recruitment radar for 2018, with the likes of Melbourne, Sydney, Canterbury and Cronulla occupying the spotlight. The Broncos will welcome Jack Bird with open arms to bolster their stock of outside backs having lost the likes of hulking centre Tautau Moga while Matt Lodge continues to make the Brisbane faithful salivate. This comes following his dominant display in Brisbane’s 38–10 trial win against the Titans in Toowoomba last weekend.
The offseason is all about grind and playing for that position - there is plenty of that at stake with the boys from Red Hill. Wayne Bennett has moved away from his focus on experience and has not been shy touting the next wave of youth coming through the ranks of the Brisbane Broncos, with jumpers up for grabs in 2018.
It could be the influence of Kevin Walters, guiding Bennett to see past his familiar coaching techniques, or maybe the master coach is finally getting with the times.
In order for the Brisbane Broncos to be successful, their form must replicate the hours of toil taken place since December. Boasting international talent, there is no reason why they can not overcome the whispers of media outlets and be a dark horse in the race for the 2018 title.
Of all the duos in the NRL with the greatest point to prove in 2018, it is Anthony Milford and Kodi Nikorima. The youthful halves combination need to take their games to the next level in order to compete with the formidable halves tandems of Luke Keary and Cooper Cronk, Cam Munster and Brodie Croft, Johnathan Thurston and Mike Morgan and Mitch Moses and Corey Norman.
Maybe that is exactly why Bennett mended broken ties with Walters, the heir apparent to the Brisbane throne – to give his halves pairing an edge.
Maybe 2018 is not the year the Brisbane Broncos win a premiership, maybe North Queensland farewell future immortal Thurston in style or the well-oiled Melbourne machine add another piece of silverware to their trophy cabinet.
Sport is funny in the way it can be unpredictable. Whatever the outcome for 2018, it is the little personal goals set that the Brisbane Broncos should put their energy towards. Securing a top six finish and getting through the Origin period unscathed is at the top of my wishlist as a Brisbane Broncos tragic, any more and the players, coaching staff and fans should feel privileged to watch a youthful team exceed expectations before their very eyes.
2018 feels eerily similar to that of 2006 for the Broncos – an inexperienced halves combination, a forward pack lacking size and injury clouds. What was the result?
A Brisbane premiership that no one could foresee.
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