Over the years I have watched the Brisbane Broncos maintain ascendancy in the NRL and the former ARL.
In years of late there has been a decline in the performance of the great club and as a die-hard Broncos fan, I would like to rant on this.
There are many reasons for the Broncos’ success over the years. From my observations, the two most important factors have been Wayne Bennett and the Broncos’ key players.
The Broncos are not faring well in the post-Wayne Bennett era. Since their inclusion into the NSWRL in 1988, Bennett’s success and record speaks for itself. Five premierships with the Broncos under six different captains over a span of 21 years.
In those 21 years, the Broncos qualified for finals appearances 19 times; missing out only twice in 1988, their first year, and 1991 by just one place.
When Wayne Bennett left to join the St George Illawara Dragons in 2009, the Broncos failed to reach the finals after two decades of finals appearances under the new coach Ivan Henjak in 2010, and then again under Anthony Griffin in 2013.
In 2015 Wayne Bennett returned to his Broncos and they finally make it to the NRL grand final after a nine-year drought. The Brisbane Broncos lost to the North Queensland Cowboys 17-16 in extra time of that game.
It was a classic grand final and the Broncos led throughout most of the game, playing with class and control like we have come to expect from Bennett’s Broncos. However, the rugby league gods had already destined a victory for the future Immortal on the other team. The King in the North – Johnathan Thurston.
Wayne Bennett has always been a large part of the Brisbane Broncos’ success. Finding a replacement will remain a daunting task if the Broncos are to return to their former glory.
The second major factor that kept the Broncos the envy of most teams has been the many gifted players that have graced their ranks.
Wally Lewis, Gene Miles, Allan Langer, Kevin Walters, Gorden Tallis, Darren Lockyer, Sam Thaiday, Corey Parker and Justin Hodges have been the former captains who have led the great Brisabe Broncos teams of yesteryear. Many other great players played under these captains.
Of these captains, three stand out as the greatest of Brisbane’s generals: Lewis, Langer and Lockyer. The key playmakers. All captains of the Queensland Maroons and the Australian Kangaroos.
One thing common about these men were they were the best Queensland playmakers of their respective eras. That I believe is the key ingredient the current Broncos team lacks. The Broncos’ key playmaker has always been the Queensland key playmaker. Of the current crop of Queensland players, the best halves at present are Daly Cherry-Evans, Cameron Munster and Michael Morgan.
I believe the Broncos need to buy one of these players if they are to return to being a top team. The Broncos are the soul of the Queensland Maroons team. Their culture has always been based on that of the Maroons team and after Lockyer retired, Thurston, Smith and Cronk took over the reins of leading the Maroons. Brisbane was left with the leftovers and this has directly affected them.
I would suggest that the Broncos release Milford and purchase Cherry-Evans, Munster or Morgan.
(AAP Image/Darren England)
To partner the key playmaker, another suggestion is for the Broncos to recruit one of the three young playmakers Lachlan Lewis, Lachlan Lam or Kyle Laybutt to play alongside and eventually take over. For some reason, the former great generals of the Broncos had names starting with L.
It must be something to do with the legend of Lang Park. These three young players are in the shadows of other teams but may come into their own under the great Broncos jersey.
I would also like to see the Broncos recruit some quality Queensland players playing in NRL clubs like Kalyn Ponga, Ethan Lowe, Josh Papali and Jai Arrow. Broncos need to structure a team around the Maroons team of today.
Finally in regards to the coach of the Broncos. Why not give the job to Lockyer? Has there ever been a better rugby league brain to come out of Queensland after Bennett and Lewis than Darren Lockyer?
The Broncos needs someone who can guide and grow the players and the team for the next 20 years. Someone whose passion equals Bennett’s and whose heart and soul is the Broncos. I do believe the most capped and successful Broncos captain will eventually become their greatest coach.
The best of the Broncos is yet to come.
Tyron
Roar Rookie
Per Scott Pryde, they are still 2-3 years off and correlates with the Seibold contract length. None of those players are options for this side. As much as I hated the metres the Bennett side would concede, their goal line defence as still phenomenal besides the weak Milf, Glenn and Boyd side. The overlooked issue with Brisbane has been their club management and board making risky decisions with a questionable scouting and operations department. Bennett brought all his own choices to the club for a bunch of his support staff. The fact that management were so gung-ho with Darius without much push back was a huge concern to fans. On scouting what the club has had after the legendary Cyril Connell Jr. retired has never impressed me besides the Haas recruitment. I know they had changed Football Operations heads, but I can see better results on the horizon when Paul White leaves. Paul's work for the NRLW has been excellent and he would be a better code administrator than at the club.
Bloppy
Guest
I think the comment was a correction on the text "Five premierships with the Broncos under six different captains" I don't think it was a brag.
Gray-Hand
Roar Rookie
Part of the reason the players play for Bellamy is that he is able to get them to buy into the idea that the team and the club is worth being part of. That works because he clearly believes it - he has been there forever and has rejected big offers from other clubs. That all disappears the second he ditches the Storm for a big contract with the Broncos.
Ex Coach
Roar Rookie
...and since?....same number of grand final appearances in the last 14 years as the Warriors (???) and the Raiders!!!
matth
Roar Guru
Forget Lockyer, if you want a QLD legend and recent player to coach the team look no further than Cooper Cronk and Cameron Smith. Throw the farm at one of them, even offer Smith captain coach if he still wants to play (obviously you can't have them both working at the same club :silly: ).
matth
Roar Guru
"Why are the Broncos missing out on Queensland’s best talent?" Exactly this. And there are two reasons: 1. The Bennett Aura. Back in the day players would actively try to get on the Broncos roster to play under Bennett. A decent Broncos player was also pretty much handed a Maroons jersey. 2. The late, great Cyrill Connell. He was the man who found the club their gems. Their recruitment has never been right since.
qwetzen
Roar Rookie
But it is pretty soft to agree with. What are these 'so many advantages' that the Broncs have?"
Albo
Roar Rookie
You could have Bennett or Bellamy coaching back at the Broncos, and the best pack of young forward talent going around, but if you have no spine out there, the team will struggle to do any better than with Seibold at the helm. The fact is , there are no viable playmakers on the market right now. They are as scarce as hens teeth even in the best of times. You don't get Thurstons & Cronks coming along very often. That's why Gus paid heaps, including a coach's salary to get Nathan Cleary to stay long-term at the Panthers. And why Bozo paid $10m for DCE. The problem for the Broncos has been that they have not been able to identify & develope suitable playmaker replacements from their vast array of QLD juniors in the recent years since the Lockyer retirement. Maybe it is just that time of their era, where QLD has an abundance of great young forwards but no halves, just like the NSW issue for the previous decade at SOO level. Maybe its climate change or something in the QLD water ?
Sydneysideliner
Roar Rookie
Broncos fans still haven't come to terms with the fact their glory years were helped by having first pick of emerging Qld talent from the BRL and Qld Cup, as well as Bennett luring some of his old Raiders players north. If they were coming through today, a lot of the former greats would be funneled into their NRL affiliates (Langer could've been a Knight) and junior carnival scouting would be a lot more sophisticated than it was back in the 80s and early 90s. Having said that, it's a two-way street - Broncos' junior scouting could be a lot wider spread and they can always look for affiliates south of the border as well as the Brisbane clubs they have now.
PNG Broncos fan88
Roar Guru
62.5% win record, 2nd best to the Storm and have never received the spoon ever...from one of the most successful clubs in the history of rugby league, has now become the laughing stock of the NRL. The season win-loss average has dramatically dropped once the tip-top coach came on board. Biggest ever defeats in the space of 4 games and now precauriously perched on 14th. White and his board royally messed this up over the ugly coach swap in 2018/19. They will not sack anyone no matter how many games they lose or how demoralising the losses are - they are too stubborn to backtrack on their mistake. In terms of hope for continued premiership success, maybe the first ever spoon is not such a bad thing for my beloved team.
Bozo
Guest
The Broncos need to sack Siebold , he appears not to have a clue . Craig Bellamy is the man if he wants out of Melbourne, his players play for him .
armc2906
Roar Rookie
This article made me laugh. The Brisbane Broncos have been the darlings of the NRL for the past 20 years, get free reign with the local media (when the major shareholder owns the only newspaper in town it's not hard) and has a city of 2.5 million to themselves... They are honestly the biggest under-performers in Australian sport for the past decade. Here are a few tips... - Teach the players some humility. They are seriously lacking in that department collectively at present. - Connect the current playing group with the players that made the club what it is. - Play the long game and stop looking for short-term fixes. We keep hearing about this boom set of youngsters. If they're that good stick with them and reap the rewards in the long-run.
McPop
Guest
Six premierships at the Broncs (1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2006).
max power
Guest
cameron smith and J thurston??
League4Ever
Roar Rookie
Pretty hard to disagree with you.
Jason
Guest
This comment is right on the money. Rarely let a single star slip through our fingers.
Tommyknocker
Guest
The passing of Cyril Connell was a major and underestimated milestone for the Broncos. Most of the Broncos greats, other than those in the original squad were scouted and brought to the Broncos by Connell. Without him Lockyer, Carroll, Petero, Webcke, Berrigan and many more would have never have been Broncos. Many came from country areas and some had never been junior rep stars. Connell had a special ability to look a little deeper and understood character mattered more than body shape. He took natural footballers and brought them to the Broncos to become athletes. Now Brisbane look for athletes who fit a certain body shape and mould and hope they can be turned into footballers.
rden
Roar Rookie
"unless we can get a top line coach we need to buy leaders" - band aids don't fix a problem, they only cover it up ...for a while. Even band aids turn yellow and brown if left on a wound too long. Brisbane needs a coach.
rden
Roar Rookie
Absolutely, but the players key role is to do THEIR job. The coaches role is to get them to do it together - chess pieces have unique roles and together form a team but they don't move themselves or each other. The problem and hence the solution is this simple: the Bronco's need a coach.
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
The question of coaching is interesting. Boards who stick their neck out one dumb decisions on coaching (Dragons, Broncos) rarely admit their error and usually back the coach (Dragons, Broncos) until the train is a complete wreck. And then there is never a good time - case in point, Warriors. Had to happen but what a shocking time to pull the pin.