Payne Haas, Pat Carrigan ... daylight: Original Broncos enforcer Greg Dowling calls out forward rotation

The first hard man ever signed by the Broncos has warned the club it needs more than a one-two punch to win a title, putting Brisbane’s forward rotation under the microscope.

The original Broncos enforcer believes the current team needs to be more than a “two man pack’’ and must learn to “win ugly’’ to crack its premiership drought.

Former rugged prop Greg Dowling was a foundation prop for the Broncos when they joined the NRL in 1988 and his presence gave the fledgling pack instant credibility.

Dowling likes the potential of the Broncos pack but says they are dangerously reliant on metre-eaters Payne Haas and Pat Carrigan and need teammates to develop quickly around them if the Broncos are to break their 19-year premiership drought.

The potency of the Broncos pack has been questioned in the wake of being “out-enthused’’ by the Roosters in a shock loss at Suncorp Stadium last week and “outmuscled’’ by Canberra a few weeks earlier.

“You keep Haas and Carrigan quiet and it becomes very difficult for Brisbane,’’ Dowling said.

“Teams know that now. The Roosters proved that. They aimed up. They sat on them.

“The rest of the guys have got a lift. You need more than those two.

“In Haas you have someone like Shane Webcke but apart from Carrigan the rest have not caught up yet and learnt how to stay in the grind. The Broncos can blast teams off the park but they struggle to grind it out.

Payne Haas is giving everything he has for the Broncos and needs more support. Picture: NRL

Patrick Carrigan has been immense for Brisbane. Picture: NRL Photos

“I’d like to see the Broncos rotate their forwards better and bring Xavier Willison on earlier and give him more game time because I think they’re going to need him.

“He needs more experience and needs to get into the hardness of grinding out a win. You have to learn how to win ugly and at the moment I’m not sure they have.

“They are all good players. I like Kobe Hetherington who reminds me of Darren Smith in the old Broncos teams.’’

Haas (900 running metres) and Carrigan (854m) have dominated the Broncos attack to the point where the forward with the next most running metres, Corey Jensen, is way back on 533 metres.

The pressure on the Broncos pack against the Warriors in Auckland on Saturday will be reduced by the absence of Warriors co-captain James Fisher-Harris, sidelined with a pectoral muscle injury sustained in his side’s loss to the Warriors on the weekend.

“Reece Walsh has got to put his hand up,’’ Dowling said. “He tries to score on every play. It’s rocks or diamonds with him at the moment. He does not play the percentages.

“I like the fact that Michael Maguire had pulled their heads out of the clouds this year but you still can’t take anyone lightly in this competition.

“The Broncos thrashed the Roosters a few weeks ago. You can’t tell me they weren’t thinking they just had to turn up to win last week.’’