Big Pete
International Captain
- Mar 12, 2008
- 32,095
- 25,698
On Fox Sports 1 at 10:30pm
A cool look into one of the Broncos best ever seasons.
A cool look into one of the Broncos best ever seasons.
JoeldTrafford
NYC Player
- Oct 30, 2013
- 210
- 143
Nice. Set to record.
Super Freak
International Captain
Forum Staff
- Jan 25, 2014
- 44,116
- 33,253
Sailor is a cocky bastard, isn't he?
Big Pete
International Captain
- Mar 12, 2008
- 32,095
- 25,698
- Thread starter
- #4
That was a really good special. I think it may have been produced last year or the year before then, as I remember reading about it and being miffed that I missed it. Fortunately I was able to catch it, and it was everything I wanted it to be. A season run-down that gave you a behind the scenes view, from the players perspective. If they could have got more talking heads, it would have been amazing.
Here's a full run-down.
They started off by describing the season in general. 2000 kicked off a month earlier due to the Sydney Olympics so everybody was really excited about that and Rugby League was something of an after thought. Players barely had enough time to recover from the Tri-Series before they were back into full training. They got stuck into Tom Jones as the voice of Rugby League. The only way the players knew of them were through their mothers. I think this was around the time Jones was trying to make a comeback with "Sexbomb" and "Burning Down The House" both were universally mocked.
Then they focused on the Broncos. It was a changing of the guard, and they really needed the young guys to stand up. So a lot was done to inspire them. As he's known to do, Bennett participated in the 8km Death Run and placed second (behind captain Kevie) which blew everyone away. They also spoke about their Army Story and how they lost Lote. When they went looking for them, they found him "passed out" on the only soft patch of soil in the hike. Bennett told him to toughen up, and it highlighted how much Wayne expected of his younger players.
Round 1 vs Wests Tigers. Wests were really up for this game, following the passing of super fan Laurie Nichols, who attended every game for 30 years and was a fixture at Leichardt Oval, becoming a mascot in his own right. So the players were fired up, especially their captain Jarrod McCracken and the Broncos had to respond from a slow start to force a draw. Outside of that, the players compared the field to Bondi Beach and Ikin told a humerous anecdoate about his first game playing inside of Dell. The players were having a team meeting where Bennett asked them to raise any concerns. Sailor piped up and said "Yeah, I've got one. I get through a ton of work and I don't need some Johnny Come Lately giving me advice on how to play the game." It took Ikin days to realise Dell was talking about him.
Round 2 vs Eels. Brisbane stayed down the entire week, but that prevent Kevie from pulling out due to "old man" injuries. As a result, Gordie was given the captaincy and got the team off to a good start which they were able to coast on.
Round 4 vs Sharks. Broncos won in dramatic circumstances, after Brad Thorn put up a cross-field kick which eventually saw Sailor cross for the match winning try. This win convinced Kevie that the Broncos had something special, driving him to gather his senior players around the bar and tell them if they stick at it, they can take this entire competition.
Round 5 vs Newcastle. A huge build up for the game, as the Johns brothers were considered the form halves pairing in the competition. The special focused in on the MacDougall/Sailor rivalry, where Adam always saved his best for Wendell. The players believed it originated in this game, where Adam outlept Sailor for one try, then stripped the ball and raced 80 to score a double. However, a late try to Lockyer proved the difference.
Round 6 vs Cowboys Locky is awesome.
Round 7 vs Raiders Locky is still awesome.
Round 9 v Panthers. Brisbane were given a wake-up call against a Penrith side that weren't given much of a chance of winning. Bennett was concerned with the Broncos second half efforts, and their flaws were exposed for all to see.
Origin: They basically skipped through the Broncos period and focused on the Origin series and how it helped fuel the Broncos drive to win the premiership. Gordie admits that his behaviour cost the Maroons and the fall-out from Game 1 really took the wind out of Queensland's sails. Fletcher was interviewed and admitted the post-try celebration was taken from the movie "Any Given Sunday".
They discussed the impact of Unlimited Interchanges. It really made the trainers an important part of the side since they had to keep dragging players on and off. Bellamy was considered one of the best in the business and was even given a rap by Vossy. Ikin told the story of one game where Bennett was filthy and instead of exerting himself, got Bellamy in there to tell them what he thought of them. Bellamy unleashed and gave the Broncos one of the best sprays in the history of sprays.
Round 24 vs Dragons. Gordie was really up for this game and told Dell to follow his lead. Dell did and had an awesome game where he scored one of the best individual tries in Broncos history where he caught the bomb, threw off two players, then ran right through the defence to score. Unfortunately it wasn't all good news for the Broncos. Shane Webcke cracked his arm after a bad shoulder charge attempt on Luke Bailey.
Round 26 vs Roosters. Brisbane had a really bad preparation heading into this game. A bunch of players missed the game, Bennett couldn't make training as he had a bad case of the flu and the Broncos lost Tallis inside the opening 10 minutes. Sydney racked up a score and the Broncos were a little down on confidence.
FW1 vs Sharks. Brisbane continued to struggle, conceding four tries in the first half. At half-time, Wayne got stuck into the team and challenged them to take the Sharks on in the middle and play tougher footy. It worked a treat and Brisbane booked their spot in the Prelim final. Ikin scored two tries and had fond memories of the game until Kevie told him months later that Wayne told him to cut-out Ikin and only give the ball to Locky.
FW3 vs Eels. A really tough game, but the players were comfortable as they played from infront for the majority of the contest. Gordie scored one of his favourite tries, where a set-play hadn't come off the way he had liked, but he still made it work to power his way through the line and get one over his old coach. There were a couple of nervous moments, but when Thorn crashed over off a quick play the ball, the Broncos were home and hosed. The game also marked the return of Shane Webcke from a broken arm. Kevie described the brace as a 'garbage bag' it was that thick around his arm. Webby got through the game, but was really struggling. He approached Kevie, telling him he couldn't play next week. Kevie told him he understood and should tell Wayne about his choice. Webby came back, sweating more than he had after playing the footy game and told Kevie that he was going to play.
GF vs Roosters. They did a really good job of covering the build up. Club merch was selling like crazy and there was a lot of really fun pre-match shenanigans. Some Sydney based Broncos supporter drove around in a car, trolling Roosters fans. The Broncos Lord Mayor released a message to the players, wishing them good luck before threatening them "remember, if you play poorly, you're off to North Queensland". Before the game, Wayne got stuck into the media for gossip mongering and writing stories about his players. As it turns out, the stories were actually true and Kevie had taken a few of his senior players out for drinks to ease the pre-game tensions. They had a laugh about it now, but at the time, Wayne was ropeable.
They spoke about a few highlights from the game. Gordie made a point of laying on a big hit on their biggest player (in this case, Ian Rubin). Locky came up with a good try-saver because Hegarty failed to get low to the ground. He then called and set up the first try of the game, calling Ikin to throw him an 'out-ball' so he could get on the outside of the defence and send Lote over. They highlighted some of the try-saving efforts from Phillips and agreed it was one of the best GF performances in a losing side.
The players thought Ikin had been the best player on the park in the first half, but a late hit by Bonetti rendered him uncious and led to a poor second half by comparison. The game was still tight until Sailor scored one of his easier tries and it gave the Broncos the breathing room they had wanted. They thought they were home and hosed until Fitzgibbon scored a try on Ben Ikin. It led to a big conversion, but once Fitzy missed the conversion, the Broncos thought they were home and hosed.
They were right and Brisbane celebrated. Kevie regards it as special, while Tallis considers it his best as didn't feel like he was riding anyones coat-tails.
A really good special and if you get the chance, I recommend checking it out.
Here's a full run-down.
They started off by describing the season in general. 2000 kicked off a month earlier due to the Sydney Olympics so everybody was really excited about that and Rugby League was something of an after thought. Players barely had enough time to recover from the Tri-Series before they were back into full training. They got stuck into Tom Jones as the voice of Rugby League. The only way the players knew of them were through their mothers. I think this was around the time Jones was trying to make a comeback with "Sexbomb" and "Burning Down The House" both were universally mocked.
Then they focused on the Broncos. It was a changing of the guard, and they really needed the young guys to stand up. So a lot was done to inspire them. As he's known to do, Bennett participated in the 8km Death Run and placed second (behind captain Kevie) which blew everyone away. They also spoke about their Army Story and how they lost Lote. When they went looking for them, they found him "passed out" on the only soft patch of soil in the hike. Bennett told him to toughen up, and it highlighted how much Wayne expected of his younger players.
Round 1 vs Wests Tigers. Wests were really up for this game, following the passing of super fan Laurie Nichols, who attended every game for 30 years and was a fixture at Leichardt Oval, becoming a mascot in his own right. So the players were fired up, especially their captain Jarrod McCracken and the Broncos had to respond from a slow start to force a draw. Outside of that, the players compared the field to Bondi Beach and Ikin told a humerous anecdoate about his first game playing inside of Dell. The players were having a team meeting where Bennett asked them to raise any concerns. Sailor piped up and said "Yeah, I've got one. I get through a ton of work and I don't need some Johnny Come Lately giving me advice on how to play the game." It took Ikin days to realise Dell was talking about him.
Round 2 vs Eels. Brisbane stayed down the entire week, but that prevent Kevie from pulling out due to "old man" injuries. As a result, Gordie was given the captaincy and got the team off to a good start which they were able to coast on.
Round 4 vs Sharks. Broncos won in dramatic circumstances, after Brad Thorn put up a cross-field kick which eventually saw Sailor cross for the match winning try. This win convinced Kevie that the Broncos had something special, driving him to gather his senior players around the bar and tell them if they stick at it, they can take this entire competition.
Round 5 vs Newcastle. A huge build up for the game, as the Johns brothers were considered the form halves pairing in the competition. The special focused in on the MacDougall/Sailor rivalry, where Adam always saved his best for Wendell. The players believed it originated in this game, where Adam outlept Sailor for one try, then stripped the ball and raced 80 to score a double. However, a late try to Lockyer proved the difference.
Round 6 vs Cowboys Locky is awesome.
Round 7 vs Raiders Locky is still awesome.
Round 9 v Panthers. Brisbane were given a wake-up call against a Penrith side that weren't given much of a chance of winning. Bennett was concerned with the Broncos second half efforts, and their flaws were exposed for all to see.
Origin: They basically skipped through the Broncos period and focused on the Origin series and how it helped fuel the Broncos drive to win the premiership. Gordie admits that his behaviour cost the Maroons and the fall-out from Game 1 really took the wind out of Queensland's sails. Fletcher was interviewed and admitted the post-try celebration was taken from the movie "Any Given Sunday".
They discussed the impact of Unlimited Interchanges. It really made the trainers an important part of the side since they had to keep dragging players on and off. Bellamy was considered one of the best in the business and was even given a rap by Vossy. Ikin told the story of one game where Bennett was filthy and instead of exerting himself, got Bellamy in there to tell them what he thought of them. Bellamy unleashed and gave the Broncos one of the best sprays in the history of sprays.
Round 24 vs Dragons. Gordie was really up for this game and told Dell to follow his lead. Dell did and had an awesome game where he scored one of the best individual tries in Broncos history where he caught the bomb, threw off two players, then ran right through the defence to score. Unfortunately it wasn't all good news for the Broncos. Shane Webcke cracked his arm after a bad shoulder charge attempt on Luke Bailey.
Round 26 vs Roosters. Brisbane had a really bad preparation heading into this game. A bunch of players missed the game, Bennett couldn't make training as he had a bad case of the flu and the Broncos lost Tallis inside the opening 10 minutes. Sydney racked up a score and the Broncos were a little down on confidence.
FW1 vs Sharks. Brisbane continued to struggle, conceding four tries in the first half. At half-time, Wayne got stuck into the team and challenged them to take the Sharks on in the middle and play tougher footy. It worked a treat and Brisbane booked their spot in the Prelim final. Ikin scored two tries and had fond memories of the game until Kevie told him months later that Wayne told him to cut-out Ikin and only give the ball to Locky.
FW3 vs Eels. A really tough game, but the players were comfortable as they played from infront for the majority of the contest. Gordie scored one of his favourite tries, where a set-play hadn't come off the way he had liked, but he still made it work to power his way through the line and get one over his old coach. There were a couple of nervous moments, but when Thorn crashed over off a quick play the ball, the Broncos were home and hosed. The game also marked the return of Shane Webcke from a broken arm. Kevie described the brace as a 'garbage bag' it was that thick around his arm. Webby got through the game, but was really struggling. He approached Kevie, telling him he couldn't play next week. Kevie told him he understood and should tell Wayne about his choice. Webby came back, sweating more than he had after playing the footy game and told Kevie that he was going to play.
GF vs Roosters. They did a really good job of covering the build up. Club merch was selling like crazy and there was a lot of really fun pre-match shenanigans. Some Sydney based Broncos supporter drove around in a car, trolling Roosters fans. The Broncos Lord Mayor released a message to the players, wishing them good luck before threatening them "remember, if you play poorly, you're off to North Queensland". Before the game, Wayne got stuck into the media for gossip mongering and writing stories about his players. As it turns out, the stories were actually true and Kevie had taken a few of his senior players out for drinks to ease the pre-game tensions. They had a laugh about it now, but at the time, Wayne was ropeable.
They spoke about a few highlights from the game. Gordie made a point of laying on a big hit on their biggest player (in this case, Ian Rubin). Locky came up with a good try-saver because Hegarty failed to get low to the ground. He then called and set up the first try of the game, calling Ikin to throw him an 'out-ball' so he could get on the outside of the defence and send Lote over. They highlighted some of the try-saving efforts from Phillips and agreed it was one of the best GF performances in a losing side.
The players thought Ikin had been the best player on the park in the first half, but a late hit by Bonetti rendered him uncious and led to a poor second half by comparison. The game was still tight until Sailor scored one of his easier tries and it gave the Broncos the breathing room they had wanted. They thought they were home and hosed until Fitzgibbon scored a try on Ben Ikin. It led to a big conversion, but once Fitzy missed the conversion, the Broncos thought they were home and hosed.
They were right and Brisbane celebrated. Kevie regards it as special, while Tallis considers it his best as didn't feel like he was riding anyones coat-tails.
A really good special and if you get the chance, I recommend checking it out.
Mister Wright
NRL Captain
- Jun 8, 2009
- 4,804
- 3,216
I remember back in the day, much like McCullough gets unfairly critisized now, Ikin would cop a hammering on this forum. At his peak (Ikin) he was a pretty awesome player, but often had that peak cut short by injury.
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