Young Broncos forwards prepare to face Roosters destroyer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves
On Thursday night, Brisbane will field the youngest front row in the club’s history – and they will be going head-to-head with Sydney Roosters wrecking ball Jared Waerea-Hargreaves.
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Brisbane’s besieged forwards have challenged Roosters enforcer Jared Waerea-Hargreaves to target them when Brisbane field the youngest front row in the club’s 32-year history at Suncorp Stadium.
The Courier-Mail can reveal Brisbane’s engine room of Tom Flegler, Payne Haas and debutant hooker Cory Paix to face the premiers is officially the youngest front row in the Broncos’ 872-game history.
The 20-year-old trio are collectively 375 days, or more than a year, younger than the greenhorn engine room of Dunamis Lui, Alex Glenn and Mitchell Dodds which faced Cronulla at Suncorp 10 years ago.
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Roosters playmaker Luke Keary has put the Broncos on notice, labelling Waerea-Hargreaves the code’s best and scariest front-rower as the Kiwi hardman looks to spearhead a domination of Brisbane’s injury-ravaged pack.
Brisbane’s youthful forwards were pulverised in midfield in last week’s 34-6 loss to Parramatta, but rookie co-captain Pat Carrigan scoffed at suggestions Waerea-Hargreaves will monster the Broncos.
“There’s no sugar-coating it, we have to go toe-to-toe with them,” Carrigan said. “There will be some fireworks even without the crowd there.
“If you back yourself and you believe, you lick your lips at any pack you face.
“I have a lot of respect for Jared, he has been doing it for years. I remember sitting on the couch as a young bloke watching him play, and you have to give guys like Jared the respect they deserve. But we won’t be giving him a free pass.
“I am excited to test myself against the best and someone like Payne Haas (Broncos prop) is as well. Payne has had a lot of wraps on him but he doesn’t want to be a one-year wonder, he wants to perform consistently.
“To be the best, you have to beat the best.”
Underlining Brisbane’s rawness, the Broncos will field 10 players with fewer than 30 games NRL experience.
Incredibly, Haas, yet to turn 21, is the most experienced player in Brisbane’s starting pack with 27 matches and must lead the way against Roosters title winners Waerea-Hargreaves, Jake Friend, Angus Crichton, Boyd Cordner and Victor Radley.
Roosters five-eighth Keary backed the 31-year-old Waerea-Hargreaves to give Brisbane’s emerging forwards such as Jamil Hopoate, Ethan Bullemor and Carrigan a torrid workover.
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“It’s very important you’re not playing against him. He’s the best front-rower I’ve seen for a long time,” Keary said.
“If you want to talk about old school front-rowers, he’s scary. He is an enforcer and intimidating.
“He doesn’t care about his stats or if he runs 100m, 200m or offloads. He is a team man.
“I don’t like it when people report on stats because there is so much more to that role and how you affect the other team’s mentality and players coming near you.
“I do not want to play against him. He is a leader here. We all love him here. He is not declining at all.”
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