Ben Barba scores well in Fan Favourite survey; Johnathan Thurston and Albert Kelly rated nines

BRONCOS fans gave star NRL recruit Ben Barba a resounding nod of approval for his club debut against former club Canterbury in Round One.

Barba-fans

BRONCOS fans gave star NRL recruit Ben Barba a resounding nod of approval for his club debut against former club Canterbury in Round One.

The former Dally M winner scored a solid 8/10 from the majority of supporters in The Courier-Mail’s new Fan Favourite survey in which we invite the fans to rate the Broncos, Cowboys and Titans each week.

More than 70% of those surveyed gave Barba a rating of seven or eight with 38% opting for the higher score.

Another 12% gave the fullback a nine but that might have been a little generous.

The fans also gave veteran forward Corey Parker (41%), winger Daniel Vidot (40%) and Channel 9 man of the match, hooker Andrew McCullough (39%), eights.

Superstar Cowboys co-captain Johnathan Thurston clearly ruled the roost in the Round 1 clash with the Raiders in Townsville, scoring a nine from a whopping 47% of fans.

Another 29% gave Thurston a 10 but we doubt even ‘JT’ would give himself a perfect score, considering he threw a pass for an intercept try.

Jason Taumalolo also scored a nine from 37% of Cowboys fans and another 30%rated him an eight.

Titans halfback Albert Kelly was rated a nine by 41% of Titans fans against the Sharks, admittedly from a smaller survey response.

Three times as many people rated the Broncos in week one of Fan Favourite as rated the Cowboys or Titans but we’re putting that down to the free-to-air television coverage enjoyed by the Broncos on an almost weekly basis.

We’ll see what happens this week when the Cowboys and Titans have also scored FTA coverage on Nine.

And, please don’t simply give every player a 10 or a 1. We’re not that gullible so you’re only wasting your time . . . and ours.

How they rated:

BRONCOS v BULLDOGS
Ben Barba 8, Daniel Vidot 8, Jack Reed 6, Dale Copley 7, Lachlan Maranta 7, Josh Hoffman 6, Ben Hunt 6, Josh McGuire 7, Andrew McCullough 8, Corey Parker 8, Alex Glenn 7, Sam Thaiday 7. Matt Gillett 7, Ben Hannant 6, Martin Kennedy 6, Todd Lowrie 5, Jarrod Wallace N/R

COWBOYS v RAIDERS
Michael Morgan 7, Kyle Feldt 7, Brent Tate  6, Kane Linnett 7, Antonio Winterstein 7, Johnathan Thurston 9, Robert Lui 7, Matt Scott 8, Ray Thompson 6, James Tamou 7, Gavin Cooper 7, Jason Taumalolo9, Joel Reithmuller 6, Rory Kostjaysen 7, Tariq Sims 6, Glen Hall 6

TITANS v SHARKS

William Zillman 7, Kevin Gordon 7, Brad Tighe 6, Maurice Blair 6, David Mead 6, Aidan Sezer 8, Albert Kelly 9, Luke Douglas 7, Beau Falloon 7, Nate Myles 7, Greg Bird 8, Dave Taylor 7, Ash Harrison 7, Matt White 6, Luke Bailey 6, Mark Minichiello 7, Paul Carter 5