Broncos hope darkest hour heralds new dawn
DESPITE having coached just six of the Brisbane players who will line-up against his Dragons outfit at WIN Stadium tonight, the influence of Wayne Bennett still hangs over the latest generation of Baby Broncos.
And while many have written off what is one of the most inexperienced teams in NRL history, Broncos insiders believe the club is set to reap the benefits for years to come of the development program Bennett instigated before his departure at the end of the 2008 season.
Of the 17 players who travelled to Wollongong yesterday, 11 of them are products of the Elite Player Development program introduced by Bennett in 2006 and came through Brisbane's National Youth Competition ranks - the biggest influx from the under-20s competition of any NRL club.
It may not have been Ivan Henjak's plan to blood so many of them in first grade just yet - but he envisaged that they would eventually form the nucleus of his team in the post-Bennett era.
''They've been a part of our plans for a while,'' said Henjak, who was recruitment manager for two years before being appointed as assistant to Bennett in 2006 and eventually succeeding him last season to become only the second head coach in Brisbane's history. ''It probably isn't ideal to be playing all of them at the one time but it will be a good experience for them.''
Take Australian captain Darren Lockyer out of the side and the rest of the Broncos have played fewer than 500 NRL matches between them.
Yet there is no doubting their talent, with Josh Hoffman, Mitch Rivett, Ben Hunt, Josh McGuire, Andrew McCullough, Mitchell Dodds, Alex Glenn and Dunamis Lui all being members of the team beaten 28-24 by Canberra in the 2008 Toyota Cup grand final.
Injuries to seven top liners, including Justin Hodges, Israel Folau and Corey Parker, and internal disciplinary action against Ben Te'o and Antonio Winterstein for being late to training this week mean most of them have been thrust into first grade ahead of time, along with Matt Gillett, Corey Norman and Gerard Beale.
''Some of them are probably playing first grade before we thought they would and we would love to have the guys who are injured at the moment in the team but it's a good thing that they are starting to get plenty of NRL game time,'' said assistant coach Anthony Griffin, who was in charge of the Broncos NYC team until this season.
''Obviously in two or three years time they are going to be the nucleus of our side and the quicker we get 40 or 50 games under their belt the better the future is going to be. But it is what it is at the moment and we've got a lot of experienced guys out so they are getting a go now.
''We were always going to be relying this year on some of them pushing through and we've spent a lot of time, resources and money over the past few years of our program and these are the type of kids we were after. It is now about making the transfer from 18 or 19-year-olds into NRL players.
''At the moment we've just got to be patient, obviously everyone is chasing results but they are not the most important thing for us at the moment with the situation we are in, having to play so many of them at once.''
The first group of players to come through the Elite Development Program included McCullough, McGuire, Hunt, Beale and Copley, while Norman, Gillett and Dodds were among the second wave.
Some were as young as 13 when they were first scouted and spent time in the Broncos academies before graduating into the club's under-20s and affiliate club programs.
''You always know kids are going to come through at the Broncos and they usually stand up, but this is a lot of kids at the one time,'' former Broncos and Dragons international Wendell Sailor said. ''Obviously with Karmichael Hunt going and Dave Taylor going it has left a bit of a hole in the team and I think people forget too about Michael Ennis, Ben Hannant and Greg Eastwood leaving the year before. … they've got a lot of kids with a lot of talent and this is a chance for them.''
Before Hodges' off-season injury it was intended that he would take over the fullback role from Hunt, while the club signed Storm grand final prop Scott Anderson to replace Taylor but have otherwise done little recruiting in recent seasons aside from luring Folau from Melbourne last year.
''If you took six of the top players out of any team like has happened to us at the moment they'd struggle too,'' Brisbane CEO Bruno Cullen said. ''But it's got nothing to do with playing ability or coaching ability and we're very happy with how things are going. Ivan is doing a great job as coach.''
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