Bennett launches Plan B title blueprint

[Super Freak]

WAYNE Bennett has declared the Broncos can win the title without Andrew McCullough as the super coach prepares to dust off the tactical masterstroke that delivered Brisbane’s last premiership.

On the eve of Saturday’s derby clash against the Titans, Bennett hit back at detractors who believe the Broncos are title pretenders following the season-ending loss of inspirational hooker McCullough.

Bennett will launch his Plan B premiership blueprint when he rolls out Ben Hunt and Kodi Nikorima in a hooker-halfback alliance against the Titans at Cbus Super Stadium.

The loss of McCullough has rocked Brisbane’s premiership ambitions but Bennett is deriving confidence from the tactical ploy that inspired the Broncos’ most recent title 11 years ago.

In 2006, Bennett handed “Mr Fixit” Shaun Berrigan the No. 9 jumper eight weeks out from the finals after Casey McGuire struggled to replace injured first-choice rake Michael Ennis.

Berrigan went on to play the game of his life in the grand final, shutting down Storm ace Greg Inglis to win the Clive Churchill Medal in Brisbane’s epic 15-8 victory.

Now Bennett believes Hunt has sufficient time to come to terms with the nuances of dummy-half play and emulate Berrigan by being a late-season X-factor — starting against the Titans.

“We can still win it,” Bennett told The Courier-Mail.

“The best thing is we have five weeks to make something of this season.

“We will certainly miss ‘Macca’, he has been great this year, but I’m confident we are a strong enough team to overcome this adversity and win it.

“Ben Hunt will get the job done. All season we have had key injuries in key positions and we have still managed to maintain a pretty high standard of football.

“I don’t see us slipping any more without Andrew McCullough.”

Bennett believes the Broncos can learn lessons from their 2015 grand-final nemesis the Cowboys, who have stayed in touch with the top four despite the mid-season loss of playmaking maestro Johnathan Thurston.

“You can see the Cowboys are a much better team now than when Thurston first got injured,” Bennett said.

“They are getting used to playing with each other now and guys like Michael Morgan are taking more responsibility.

“That will happen within our team.

“If we lost Macca a week out (from the finals), it would have been an entirely different scenario but we have five weeks before the finals even start.

“That gives us time to get it right.

“This premiership race is wide open. We just have to nail things down now and have a belief that we can do something in the finals.”

Penrith’s 2003 premiership hero Scott Sattler is adamant Hunt will have a Berrigan-style influence.

“Berrigan helped the Broncos win the grand final in 2006 and I have no doubt they can do it again,” Sattler said.

“I’ve always felt Ben Hunt is a better hooker than he is a halfback.

“Hunt is a great runner of the ball so if anything, the Broncos could gain a bit more speed and power around the rucks.

“The Broncos traditionally have never been a one-man band as a club. If Hunt settles well in the No. 9 jumper, they are in a position to win the comp.”

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...h/news-story/ee9316af49a62d1a1b0ac9d11ef3adb4

 

[Alec]

Just get quicker and better service to the halves than McCullough did and I'll be happy.

 

[Mr Fourex]

It's becoming a fairly common theme amongst the respective RL commentaries....

"the Broncos can win the title without Andrew McCullough"

So how long did we sign this **** for again .....?

 

[Smokin' Joe]

Just get quicker and better service to the halves than McCullough did and I'll be happy.

I think this is often a misconception amongst fans.
McCulloughs service is actually very very good. Our halves stand with a lot of width. McCulloughs pass is sometimes 20+ metres to hit the playmaker.
On TV it looks like it's slow, but it's more the length of the pass than the speed which can trick you into thinking it is slow service.

The biggest gripe I have with Macca is sometimes his decision making isn't great. But I have no issue with his service to the halves.

 

[Renegade]

Main concern is who is going to soak up the tackles in the middle now he is gone? Whoever it is will need to make some superhuman efforts the next 2 months.

 

[Nashy]

Main concern is who is going to soak up the tackles in the middle now he is gone? Whoever it is will need to make some superhuman efforts the next 2 months.

Hunt..... :superhappythumbsup::thebadmantookbaxter:

 

[Alec]

I think this is often a misconception amongst fans.
McCulloughs service is actually very very good. Our halves stand with a lot of width. McCulloughs pass is sometimes 20+ metres to hit the playmaker.
On TV it looks like it's slow, but it's more the length of the pass than the speed which can trick you into thinking it is slow service.

The biggest gripe I have with Macca is sometimes his decision making isn't great. But I have no issue with his service to the halves.

I can't exactly agree, even with the halves standing further away, it's still definitely slow IMO, and always has been. I still remember one game when we had Granville - he came off the bench and we scored 3 tries in very short amount of time purely because he got the ball to Hunt quickly and the extra time and space was enough to make something happen.

 

[Dash]

The speed of a dummy half's passing is nowhere near as important as their ability to engage the markers and/or middle defenders. Granville is a very average passer, but is able to engage the defence through his speed off the mark. Cameron Smith is obviously not fast, but has impeccable timing.

McCullough is at his best when he gets out of dummy half and takes the defence on. Too often though he gets stuck into a rut of just shovelling the ball out to the halves.

I'm very interested to see what Hunt can produce. With his under-rated pace and footwork he has the ability to be our Granville. Hopefully he and the team can adapt sooner rather than later.

 

[Big Pete]

Was trying to find the Granville game because it sounded too good to be true.

It was the Round 18 2014 clash against Penrith. Except it wasn't as it was described. The first try came right as Granville came onto the field and there was a mix-up at dummy half. Hoffman had to scurry over, fire a pass off to Parker who found Hunt who made a line-break out of nothing and set Hodges up on the inside.

Granville then darted over from dummy half not long after that. Impressive, but there was never any 3-try Granville cameo game.

For the record, there was a game where David freakin' Hala scored a double. But let us never speak of that game...

 

[Sproj]

Ahh Dave Hala, that man amongst men.

 

[heartly87]

Hala the human fridge that never was. A body like that should of had brutal impact ala Mark Tookey.