Broncos History Thread

[Brent81]

2005

​

In a lot of ways, this season reminds me what it must have been like to have been an active fan in 96. So dominant for the majority of the season, only to crumble when it matters. Looking back, I think the deciding game for the club was the Round 22 clash against St. George Illawarra - where we were thoroughly outplayed and Lockyer sustained an injury that would keep him out until the first week of the finals. From that point on, the Broncos were chasing their own tails as injuries kept seemingly stacking up and by the time everybody returned, they were all rusty and were exposed at home and on the road.

All I remember at that time was the eery feeling of deja vu - the finish to 05 reminded me of 04 how we came up against the form team of the competition in a huge Sunday afternoon blockbuster at Suncorp, were thoroughly outplayed and to rub salt into the wound lost Lockyer till the first week of the finals. We then had to face up against the Storm and were the weaker team on the night only to lose to a plucky team the next week - it was frustraing how predictible we were.

05 is a strange year to think back on because there were so many highlights for the first two/thirds but it all felt so worthless by the off-season. Looking back, I can appreciate them more and there's a fair bit to discuss.

- The two players that sum up our 05 season is Seymour and Bott. Both promising players who's futures looked bright but faded out as the season heated up and were virtually forgotten about after this season. Seymour in particular is a sad case - a lot of people talk about Tim Smith, but I'd dare say Seymour was just as talented and had more potential. However, as it turns out he had an interupted off-season never really got his head on for 06 where Bennett played him as a bench hooker and when he was given a shot heading into the finals he played poorly and eventually got himself trouble off the field and had his contract torn up.

- We were a much more enjoyable team to watch than in 06 - we played some really good expansive footy but had a ton of weaknesses which the Storm exploited in that horrible 54-4 drubbing in Melbourne. Still, performances against the Roosters, Eels, Sea Eagles etc. were damn good to watch.

- Hodgo went from the most dispised Bronco of all time to one of the form centres in the competition. It'd be another year until he'd really turn it on but he was one of those players moving forward that was promising. Thaiday was another player who improved.

- Smith's last hurrah was pretty damn good, he had a sweet combination on the right with Tate.

- Lockyer couldn't goal kick to save himself - yet the Broncos kept insisting to take the two.

- This was the year where the club really started to use the second man play a lot more and now it's pretty much every team's go-to play. I'd imagine Bennett saw how succesful it was in the 04 Tri Nations with Locky/Mini so decided to try it here with Locky/Hunt.

- Best match of the season was probably the Bulldogs clash at Suncorp - real topsy turvy clash where the Broncos steal it late thanks to a try to Karmichael Hunt, field goal by Lockyer and a cheeky try from McGuire right on full-time.

Actually 1996 (apart from the end) was a pretty enjoyable year.

Had some good results. Putting 50 on Canberra was a huge effort.

Robbie Ross was a standout.

Against Wests (at ANZ) a young second rower (wearing 12) called Webcke, scored his first try.

Sailor played second row for a fair wack of the year.

Also the first year that a final was staged outside of Sydney (a 15 year old version of me was there!)

Tallis won club man of the yeat without playing a game.

 

[Broncoman]

2005 was my first season being a Broncos fan and it's one of the very few seasons I lok back on with regret, after an inconsistent start we were on fire for a part of the year and to slump away and crash out with back to back finals losses undid everything.

Highlights

- The win in Round 1 over the Cowboys is a special moment to me (see Glory days thread) to beat the Cowboys after the talk about them overtaking the Broncos was very satisfying

- Leon Bott looked like a future star playing in 24 games and scoring 13 tries. The next year Darius Boyd came in and replaced him on the wing and Hodges and Hunt were ahead of him on the other and Bott disappeared and played only 1 game in 2006. He now plays club Rugby in Sydney

- The 10 game winning streak which began with a demolition of Parramatta which was won 54-14 after leading 42-0 at halftime. Perfect way to respond after that 50-4 drubbing in Melbourne

- Locky's field goal that edged out Canterbury

 

[GCBRONCO]

That Norths game was just days after Lockyers official Kangaroo debut where he had a shocker and Australa lost, he came back to the Broncos and came back and had a blinder.

That was also the same game Petero Civoniceva made his debut and was quite impressive too, went on to win rookie of the year. I remember going to that game and thinking after all the savaging comments made about Lockyer by the southern press and non Bronco fans, I'd hate to be the Bears....

 

[Big Pete]

Definitely more positives to take out of 96 but I think it's one of those years a lot of fans skip over because of how it materialised.

 

[Unbreakable]

Speaking of history, do you guys remember Tame Tupou? Don't remember a heck of a lot of him, except that he was big, fast and a great finisher on the left wing.. Not sure what happened to him, assume he went to England or something.

 

[Morkel]

Speaking of history, do you guys remember Tame Tupou? Don't remember a heck of a lot of him, except that he was big, fast and a great finisher on the left wing.. Not sure what happened to him, assume he went to England or something.

He'll yeah, he was the Israel Folau before Folau hit the scene. IIRC he did a couple of years at Bradford, before signing with the Tigers on a 2nd tier deal. I remember picking him as a possible cheapie in Dream Team in 2010, he was available as a winger and a prop. You read that right.

I think he originally fell out with Bennett over poor discipline or attitude. Another 'what could have been'. He was a monster.

 

[Cult]

He'll yeah, he was the Israel Folau before Folau hit the scene. IIRC he did a couple of years at Bradford, before signing with the Tigers on a 2nd tier deal. I remember picking him as a possible cheapie in Dream Team in 2010, he was available as a winger and a prop. You read that right.

I think he originally fell out with Bennett over poor discipline or attitude. Another 'what could have been'. He was a monster.

I actually think injuries ruined his career. Was offered heaps by Bradford and just kept getting injured over there.

 

[GCBRONCO]

The bears final in 1994 was depressing but here's a more cheerful memory from that season.



What a try from Steve Renouf

 

[1910]

He'll yeah, he was the Israel Folau before Folau hit the scene. IIRC he did a couple of years at Bradford, before signing with the Tigers on a 2nd tier deal. I remember picking him as a possible cheapie in Dream Team in 2010, he was available as a winger and a prop. You read that right.

I think he originally fell out with Bennett over poor discipline or attitude. Another 'what could have been'. He was a monster.

Gary! He scored three tries against Souths at Lang Park against a terrible Souths side- all he did was stay outside Hodges and Lockyer and put the ball over the line. He and his manager met Bennett at his office door on Monday to talk about his new upgraded deal now he was a superstar- they got told to go away.

He signed with Doplphins two seasons ago and never turned up.

 

[Big Pete]

Used to call him two try Tupou - because when he was first starting out, if he ever got one try on the board, he was usually good to score another.

He made a pretty impressive debut against the Panthers in an otherwise nothing match back in 04 but he was exposed pretty quickly as bit of a meat-head who made Manu Vatuvei look as mobile as a contortionist.

Still, it was fun to see him pin the ears back and just run over the top of wingers. His big shining moment was against the Eels in Round 3 of 06 where he just absolutely barn-stormed over the top of Luke Burt - I think that clip was used in the Fox Sports opening package for 07.

He's also surprisingly well spoken - I was expecting Vatuvei and he spoke more like Gordie Tallis.

 

[GCBRONCO]

 

[subsbligh]

Re: Broncos circa 2004 - 2013

Go for it Morkel - 08 is definitely a fan favourite.

I was at the game too, and if nothing else after one of the most dramatic weeks in the club's history it reminded me how much I care about this club.

What a week that was? That's the only game that still haunts me. The Round 2 victory against the Storm in 2009 and Lockyer's lsat game in 2012 exorcised the demons to some extent... but man... the feels.... Hannant goes over and me and everyone I was with (and Bennett) was like "finally put the nail in the coffin, we're home". Bow bow.

Still should have stood Thaiday, Boyd and Hunt down for the game at least.

Nothing to gain by winning in those circumstances.

 

[subsbligh]

Used to call him two try Tupou - because when he was first starting out, if he ever got one try on the board, he was usually good to score another.

He made a pretty impressive debut against the Panthers in an otherwise nothing match back in 04 but he was exposed pretty quickly as bit of a meat-head who made Manu Vatuvei look as mobile as a contortionist.

Still, it was fun to see him pin the ears back and just run over the top of wingers. His big shining moment was against the Eels in Round 3 of 06 where he just absolutely barn-stormed over the top of Luke Burt - I think that clip was used in the Fox Sports opening package for 07.

He's also surprisingly well spoken - I was expecting Vatuvei and he spoke more like Gordie Tallis.

Poor guy, in all the 06 celebrations he looks so confused and got his "I didn't earn this" face on.

 

[Big Pete]

2006

​

Seriously, who doesn't enjoy the story of this year?

For once, Brisbane didn't enter the season as favourites despite having the squad to win it and there were plenty of question marks about the squad. Imagine being a BHQ member back in these days? All the "halves" threads and "Anti-Bennett" threads would have driven me insane. Kudos to whoever had to mod back then. :laugh:

Anyways the pre-season had a feeling of now and never. Club favourites like Kevie & Lazo had been given the flick and a bloke by the name of Dean Benton had been recruited. As somebody who's never really studied the field of professional conditioners, it was difficult to judge the recruitment at first glance but all the reports sounded positive. The boys were getting slogged, losing a ton of weight, which sounded like the right step given mobility had been a criticism and all in all, the right reports were being made.

Then Round 1 happened.

I don't think I'd ever been so deflated. Clearly the Broncos weren't 100% but the Cowboys exposed them poorly and all the criticisms that had existed remained. It remains as one of the worst starts to the season I've ever seen from the club and pretty much stands as the one reason why I never judge a club solely on Round 1.

In true Bennett era fashion, the Broncos responded well, reversing a 12-0 deficit to prevail 16-12 in a tough game against Cronulla before winning their next 8 of 10. It seemed like business as usual but fans were smart enough to know better with Origin season right around the corner.

Yet, the Broncos managed the representative period fairly well given the demands. They put in a shocking performance to give Souths their first victory of the season, lost a heart-breaker to the Dragons which also saw a bunch of players walk out with injuries, scored a rare victory at Brookie against Manly and then in the coup de gras managed to defeat the Sharks minus 10 of our players. I'd like to think that the loss was so demoralising for the Sharks, that they couldn't get their heads straight and that's why they weren't able to score another win for the season.

It all seemed fine and dandy and with the Maroons winning their first Origin since 2002 (technically 2001, but stuff that, only one team was celebrating in 2002 and it sure wasn't NSW) it seemed like our players finally had some momentum in the right place. Of course, they dropped a game against Melbourne in Melbourne, but it just seemed like a typical Origin hangover game, plus Melbourne was coming off a high too given they hosted the dramatic decider.

That's what we first thought at least.

Brisbane had the bye and virtually treated it as a holiday, I heard reports that players had left the country and basically partied up. It was meant as a way to keep the boys fresh heading into the finals, but seemingly it just inspired complacency.

This couldn't have been more apparent than the game against the Cowboys. The night couldn't have started any worse for the Cowboys who lost JT and gifted Brisbane a try all in the same play. Yet, the Broncos didn't seem in it and an out of form Bowen stepped up to the plate and made them pay.

The following week the Broncos took on an understrength Tigers outfit who had to call up a Schoolboy in order to fill a 17. End result, said schoolboy (Chris Lawrence) scores a long distance try and the Broncos fumble what should have been an easy home victory.

Throw in a Raiders loss which ended up being 30-18 but may as well been 30-6 given the Broncos scored two tries late in the contest and fans were already planning for 2007.

Then like deja-vu, Brisbane went up against the premiership favourites on a Sunday afternoon at Suncorp. It seemed like this game took place the last few seasons, and everytime it happened, the Broncos would get thoroughly beaten and lose a few key players effectively derailing the season for good. However, Bennett made some ballsy decisions. On top of the Berrigan move to hooker which had happened the week prior, Bennett brought in Justin Hodges to play fullback and brought in young backrow, Sam Thaiday into the starting side.

It was just the tonic the Broncos needed and despite going down 18-12, the Broncos looked impressive. In all honesty, they dominated that game for over 60 minutes and it was just this period right after half-time where the Storm exposed some deficiencies in the Broncos side and held onto their lead.

Yet the proof of this change wouldn't occur until the next three weeks when the Broncos were able to keep two in-form teams to nil in Canterbury & Parramatta before blasting the Warriors 36-12 in Webcke's last regular home and away game. Things were starting to look nice again for the Broncos and just as they got their hopes up...

They lost to the Dragons in the first week of the semis! Yep, another dreaded reminder of the past, the Broncos inability to win finals games, emerged and boy did it suck. In the end, the game can be chalked down to the Broncos being flat and Hodges putting in his worst performance, but still, fans were basically convinced now more than ever that 06 was all but over despite the last couple of weeks.

Fortunately, the Knights were coming off an intense first week final and were without Danny Buderus & Steve Simpson heading into our game. Despite those absentees, nobody expected the Broncos to turn in the performance they did, putting 50 on the Knights in a final and throwing the ball around in one game than they had in awhile.

With that monkey of our backs, the boys remained in Sydney for the return match against the Bulldogs. It was a match that could have gone either way, but I don't think anybody expected it. I think every Bronco has their own memory of their game, for me, I was on my way to Sydney and would be boarding the plane just as the game was 20 minutes old. I did everything to catch a glimpse of the game in the terminal, yet everytime I came across a TV, I was greeted with bad news.

By the time I came across the ABC coverage on the plane, it was 20-6 and the commentators already had the Bulldogs penciled into the grand final. I was deflated, but proud of the way the boys had played and just wanted to hear them score one final try, just to give us fans something to cheer about.

Brothers and Sisters, they gave me more than that.

Even without watching it, I knew the Berrigan try was magical. It was the perfect moment, and I believe the moment that showed the boys that anything was possible. By the time Boyd had crossed, I dared to dream about the GF and celebrated accordingly when Parker scored the final try, putting the cherry on top of one of the best Broncos game of all time.

Then the GF. Look, I know the general Rugby League fan writes it off as a ref blunder, but to me, it was Brisbane coming up with the best defensive gameplan and scoring a win against all odds against the overwhelming premiership favourites. The fact they systematically cheated the cap, makes the win all that sweeter. And while I was happy with the win, strangely, it felt more like a sense of relief than the sheer unbridled joy I felt after the Origin or Dogs game. I just think there was so much at stake, and the game went so slowly for me that I couldn't believe it when they won.

Anyways they won, a bunch of the players went onto enjoy Tri Nations success with Lockyer once again playing a vital role in the victory and I don't think there was a better year to be a fan.

Random Notes

- There were just so many reasons why the Broncos won the premiership. The 1-2-3 combo of Civo, Webby & Thorn, the guidance of Lockyer, the brilliance of Hodges and the danger of Berrigan. The bench was pretty awesome too, with Parker really stepping his game up after a couple of quiet years. Even Perry added something to the side and complimented the others nicely.

- Tupou was always good for two tries and it's a shame that there isn't footage of him smashing Burt out of the road in R3. I wish Vidot had the same opportunities.

- Round 8 against Canberra was such a strange game. Nothing doing till suddenly Canberra score 18 points heading into half-time. Brisbane come out of the sheds and put 24 on the Raiders in 11 minutes leading to a tense final 30 or so.

- Round 13 tends to get replayed a lot on Fox. It's a game against the Warriors where Eastwood ends up playing wing and sets up a long range winning try.

- Round 16 featured a sweet long-range try from Tate. 60 or 70 odd metres where he manages to keep Brett Stewart at bay. *sigh* the days Tate had speed.

- It's a shame Ennis got injured when he did. He looked like one of our best until he was rubbed out in a nothing game against the Rabbitohs.

 

[Super Freak]

Lockyer seems to think that time off was the best thing for the Broncos in the long run. Plus, Willie Mason opening his big mouth at half time of the preliminary final really pissed off the forwards.

I had very little hope of a win given the fade outs in previous seasons. I was in high spirits when Broncos got off the block well, and after that I had to go to the shop to get some stuff. I came back and I saw it was 20-6! My mood has never changed so quickly, I was heartbroken, especially considering it was against the Dogs. My dad had all but given up and was on his computer. I still had a tiny bit of hope that Broncos could come back, and when Berrigan scored that try, my hope increased. However, I was still skeptical. I wasn't getting my hopes up too much to prepare for a comeback. But it just never came, Broncos just completely dominated that second half.

When Lockyer went over, I knew it was game over. Dogs still had time to come back, but their body language was awful while Broncos were full of energy and just throwing everything they could at them.

When they finished them off, I've never been so happy in my life. I was completely thrilled that Broncos were off to another Grand Final, I couldn't sleep that night.

 

[Morkel]

Let's not forget a barefoot Webcke trudging across the field and up to the commentary box. Hindsight suggests it was a marketing ploy for his upcoming media career but it was special at the time.

 

[Ghoulies]

Brisbane had the bye and virtually treated it as a holiday, I heard reports that players had left the country and basically partied up. It was meant as a way to keep the boys fresh heading into the finals, but seemingly it just inspired complacency.

From memory the players were actually encouraged to do things like go overseas. It was all about getting them to take their minds off football after another huge Origin series.

 

[Big Pete]

Oh yeah, it definitely helped with the benefit of hindsight. But during those three losses to the Cowboys, Tigers & Raiders it looked like the move backfired and really made the players complacent. In the end, it turned out to be the best thing for the squad and it lead into the perfect storm for the Broncos.

It wasn't too dissimilar to Hook's decision to rest the rep. stars in 2011 which certainly helped Locky + Hodges in the back end of the season. Thinking back, it was one of many factors that helped us in 2011 - the injuries/suspensions also enabled the likes of McGuire, Gillett, Hoffman & McCullough to hit peak form at the right time too and gave us nice depth in Beale who could and would go onto cover the fullback role.

But yeah 06 was such an up and down year but really was a defining moment for a lot of players. While it wasn't the Broncos, I think Game 2 2006 was a real defining moments for a lot of players. If Queensland don't put in the performance they do and get beat that night, I reckon the way we talk about Locky, Civo etc. would be a lot different.