Underdogs won't lack bite: Bennett
by Scott Dickson
Saturday May 07, 2005
BRONCOS coach Wayne Bennett is expecting a potential match-winning performance from underdogs Canterbury tomorrow despite the contrasting condition of the Bulldogs decimated engine room compared to Brisbanes all-powerful forward pack.
Bennett said his side had no advantage heading into the Suncorp Stadium showdown regardless of the Bulldogs missing an irreplaceable trio of International forwards against a Broncos starting pack of 881 first grade games.
Talented Kiwi lock Sonny Bill Williams and Kangaroo forwards Mark OMeley and Willie Mason are the painful absences from a Bulldogs outfit facing the monumental task of shutting down props Shane Webcke and Petero Civoniceva, second-rowers Brad Thorn and David Stagg, lock Darren Smith and hooker Barry Berrigan.
This vacancy of defensive armour and go-forward for the third straight week means the Bulldogs starting forward line-up has again been emptied of 19 Tests of experience against a Broncos scrum filled with 45 of the same ingredient.
Second-rower Reni Maitua and props Roy Asotasi and Nate Myles will join mainstays of lock Tony Grimaldi, NSW second-rower Andrew Ryan and hooker Corey Hughes in a scrum boasting 539 first-grade games less than their Broncos counterparts.
The Broncos hard men, unlike Canterburys, have been able to build form and subsequently lay the platform for their backs due to their lack of injury problems.
Of the eight Broncos forwards, Webcke, Civoniceva, Thorn and Parker all average well over 100 metres per game while Asotasi is the only Canterbury forward to manage the same stat.
Whether weve got size advantage or any other advantage is not going to work for us, Bennett said today of his Broncos whose starting forwards total 613kg and 1115cm compared with Canterburys 592kg and 1095cm.
I dont know if weve got an advantage or not, I just know we have to play hard for 80 minutes.
Theyll be hard here tomorrow, weve got our hands full.
Another factor worrying Bennett is that Canterbury requires Ryan, Maitua, winger Hazem El Masri and playmakers Brent Sherwin and Braith Anasta to back-up from Fridays City-Country clash.
When you are a champion club and youve got good people they try and find a little something to dig a little deeper and thats my concern tomorrow, said Bennett of Canterbury, who was thumped 32-6 by Newcastle last year after six players backed up from Gosfords City-Country fixture. As a team theyve got an opportunity tomorrow to come here and upstage us.
Thats what theyll be on about right now and theyll see that as a real positive for them to be able to put themselves in that position to do that.
Canterbury have not been given the same level of confidence by leading betting agency Unitab Sportsbet, with the ninth-placed Bulldogs priced at $3.25 to overcome a Broncos ($1.30) side looking every bit of premiership-winning material after winning four on the trot.
Bennett however was not getting carried away with the Broncos form reversal, which began following there 50-4 embarrassment at the hands of Melbourne in round four.
Its (training) been pretty good, a team thats won four in a row theres always a bit of confidence around the place, Bennett said of the Broncos smooth week at training.
I wouldnt compare us to anything right now, we havent done enough.
Weve won six out of eight games (and) weve got sixteen to go, talk to me at the end of the year about what weve done.
Bennett also confirmed Darren Lockyers ambition to rectify his poor 2005 goal-kicking percentage of 53% and subsequently fill the Broncos sharpshooter void left by 2005 Huddersfield winger Michael Devere.
Hes a perfectionist, he doesnt like failure, Bennett said of his captain five-eighth, who is last on the goal-kicking percentage column after landing only 25 goals from 47 attempts.
Hes been given plenty of opportunities to take the responsibility away from himself but he doesnt want to do that.
Bennett commented on his possible decision as coach to hand the kicking-tee over to the clubs second-string kicker Corey Parker if he felt Lockyers form was a threat to the teams success.
If its got to be made Ill make it, but hell make it before me, he said.
He doesnt want the team to fail either so hes not going to do things that would jeopardise the team, hes a wonderful team player and always has been.
The Broncos side to play the Bulldogs is as per program with interchange forward Darren Mapp clear to play after overcoming a mid-week virus.
Brisbane Broncos: Karmichael Hunt; Scott Minto, Justin Hodges, Shaun Berrigan, Leon Bott; Darren Lockyer, Brett Seymour; Darren Smith, Brad Thorn, David Stagg; Petero Civoniceva, Barry Berrigan, Shane Webcke; Interchange: Corey Parker, Casey McGuire, Neville Costigan, Darren Mapp.
