Storm blown away in trial.
Alan Kennedy | 15th February 2010
Former St Brendans star Ben Hunt meets some strong defence from Storm players during Saturdays trial match at Browne Park.
ALLAN REINIKKA
Browne Park was packed for the big NRL trial game and it was a happy homecoming for Broncos Ben Hunt and coach Anthony Griffin.
There was not too much between the young Brisbane Broncos and the equally inexperienced Melbourne Storm side but in the end it was the half-back combination of Ben Hunt and the returning Tim Smith that made the difference, resulting in the Broncos 24-12 victory.
We are reasonably happy with the result although the score in a trial game is not that important, Griffin said yesterday.
There was plenty to admire in the play of the young Broncos team that always looked capable of lifting their game to another level when called upon.
I thought we were composed in attack, he added.
Much of that composure was due to Hunt and Smith being on hand to channel the attacks and continually test the Storms defensive line.
Griffin also felt the Storm players let themselves down with poor ball retention at critical times, resulting in the eager Broncos getting opportunities.
The tricky breeze tempted Storm to test Broncos defence under massive bombs but once the Brisbane team proved to be very capable under the high ball the Storm seemed short on a plan B to penetrate the defensive cover.
The early exchanges looked as if the game might follow the pattern of the first with both teams getting well into their sets of six but then spilling the football when it was fired on to the hole runner.
However, the Broncos did look the more inventive and after 15 minutes took the lead when they used quick hands for Kurt Baptieste to feed the ball to Smith who fired a long pass to his left where Gerard Beale exploded on to the ball to score in the corner with Hunts sideline kick opening up a 6-0 lead.
Minutes later Smith came close to giving Beale his second try but his pass had drifted forward and the play pulled back.
Opportunities for the Storm were few but when Anthony Quinn had a clear view of the line he failed to collect the ball and the chance went begging.
Storm was made to pay shortly afterwards and it was Smith again in the centre of the action, this time going to his right to put Dale Copley over for an unconverted try.
A mistake by Copley under a high ball gave Storm its chance just before the half-time siren. The Broncos kick from the in-goal was not too deep and the Storm capitalised, catching Broncos defence light in numbers to its left leaving Luke Macdougall to dive over in the corner with full-back Gareth Widdop converting from out wide.
The half-time scoreline of 10-6 was better than Storm deserved but left the door open for a comeback.
It rarely looked like happening.
A Mitch Rivett try made it 14-6 and then Corey Norman scored the try of the game when Smith flicked up a little pass to Norman when it had looked he was about to take on the line himself. Nobody had picked up Normans run and he went through to score between the posts, and then added the extra points.
Widdop was the Storms best player and the only one capable of upsetting the Broncos composure but it was former Origin player Anthony Quinn who added more points with a try making it 20-12.
With four minutes left Josh Hoffman, tipped to replace Karmichael Hunt for the full-back job, ended the contest with the Broncos fifth try and conclude the scoring for the afternoon.
Griffin agreed the vision of Hunt and Smith was a telling factor.
Tim Smith has been around a bit, he said.
Its just a trial and hed not played since last year.
A trial game is nowhere near up to competition standard.
Griffin said Smith and Hunt would find it hard breaking up the Broncos number one combination of Darren Lockyer and Peter Wallace.
For Tim it is important he is fit, healthy and starting to play football, Griffin added.
It is a gap of eight months since he played football.
The coach said Norman also added a fair bit to the team during his time on the park.
