At times overshadowed in the forward pack by team-mate Payne Haas, Pat Carrigan stepped up in his absence as the Broncos dominated the Cowboys, earning the inaugural Carl Webb Medal.
It was almost fitting that the medal – named after the Queensland icon who made such an impression at both the Broncos and with the Cowboys – went to a forward, with Carrigan relishing the honour.
“It’s super special, I didn't even know how to put it into words, to be honest," Carrigan said.
“I was just a kid; six or seven years old watching him play and I was lucky enough to spend some time with him at the back in the last year, so it means everything.
“He was massive for this club and to see his family here and his kids here, that was pretty special.
“(Before the game, coach Kevin Walters) spoke about obviously, it's always a big game, the XXXX derby and I guess he just touched on that it was going to become a memorial game for Charlie.
“He knew him quite well and there's a lot of past Broncos players that knew him quite well too.
“Kev’s big on making those sort of people proud and that’s what we wanted to do tonight.”
In his 73 minutes, Carrigan finished the match with 212 run metres, 79 post contact metres, three tackle breaks and 41 tackles, but praised the work of his fellow forwards who were also forced to lift without Haas on the field.
“Most people will say the damage it does to oppositions is massive,” Carrigan said of filling the void left by Haas - who is not expected to return until Round 7 at the earliest due to a knee injury.
“It's obviously different, he’s got the ability to create things out of nothing and we have to change some things a bit, but there's a really athletic, young group of people there, Xavier Willison, Kobe [Hetherington], they play really good footy.
“I can't do what I can do without guys like Fletcher (Baker), Corey Jensen was awesome tonight and then Kobe Hetherington’s been really good off the bench.
“There's so many points of difference for some of these younger guys who are really taking the game with two hands and really stepping up and I think it's exciting they're stepping up for Payno so when he comes back, if we all hold that standard, it's going to be a really, really exciting time."
While Carrigan took home the honour of winning the inaugural medal, across the park, the Broncos had a number of contenders who could have staked their claim for player of the match honours, with skipper Adam Reynolds putting on a clinic with the boot to dismantle North Queensland, causing particular pain for fullback Scott Drinkwater.
“(His kicking) was so good, he can whack up some curlers,” Carrigan said.
“He's a massive part of this team and club.
“Honestly, I felt sorry for Drinky because I was running down on the kick-offs and kick chases and the water was smashing me in in the face.
“So don't sign me up to catch those bombs, but Reyno's a big part of what we do and we love him.”
NRL.com
