Pat Carrigan’s possible elevation to Brisbane’s captaincy shows how far the Broncos have fallen
Young Broncos forward Pat Carrigan could become the most inexperienced captain in NRL history next week, and it shows just how far Brisbane have fallen.
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Broncos youngster Patrick Carrigan is on the cusp of becoming the least experienced captain in NRL history.
But it’s a record he should not be rewriting.
The fact Carrigan could captain Brisbane in Friday night’s blockbuster NRL season-opener against North Queensland at the Cowboys’ new stadium in Townsville highlights the position the Broncos are in.
If club captain Alex Glenn (hamstring) is ruled out, the Brisbane Broncos will throw the club’s most important leadership role to a player who has only featured in 19 NRL games.
Of those 19 games Carrigan played last year in his debut NRL season, he only started two on the field.
He has played a total of 640 minutes of NRL football.
Carrigan, 22, seems like an outstanding young man.
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He is well-spoken and educated, securing an OP score of 2 after graduating from a Brisbane private school and flourishing in a physiotherapy degree at university.
He plays a tough position in the middle forwards with heart and effort.
But he simply should not be captaining a club like the six-time premiership-winning Broncos at this stage of his career, no matter his future leadership qualities.
For a number of reasons, the Broncos have failed to foster a generation of leaders in recent times.
It may have been short-sightedness from former coach Wayne Bennett in pursuit of the club’s seventh title.
A lack of planning and nurturing could be behind the shortage of genuine captaincy options within Brisbane’s ranks.
Then there is the character of the club’s current roster.
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For whatever reasons, five-eighth Anthony Milford has played 167 NRL games but is not a member of coach Anthony Seibold’s leadership group, nor a captaincy option.
Winger Corey Oates is a 142-game Broncos veteran, but isn’t viewed as a leader. Same with Joe Ofahengaue (90 games for Brisbane).
Hooker Andrew McCullough has played 258 games for Brisbane but is on the slide and won’t make the starting side.
In his second season in charge, Seibold has overhauled the Broncos’ leadership ranks.
He put Storm recruit Brodie Croft into the leadership group before he even pulled on a Broncos jersey.
Young forwards Payne Haas and Tevita Pangai Jr are part of the group, along with Matt Lodge, who would have captained the Broncos in Glenn’s absence if not for a knee injury.
It has been two years since Lodge made his controversial return to the NRL but he is still a polarising figure and there would not have been a rosy reaction if he led the Broncos out on Friday night.
Throughout all of this, former club captain Darius Boyd is lost in the mix.
A veteran of 317 NRL games, Boyd has captained the Broncos for the past three years, but became collateral damage after last year’s 58-0 finals wipe-out to Parramatta and was axed.
Boyd, who yesterday announced he would retire at season’s end, was replaced by Glenn, who only a couple of months before his elevation to the job was resigned to joining Penrith because he felt unwanted by the Broncos and did not have a contract.
The Broncos’ honour roll of captains includes the likes of league legends Wally Lewis, Darren Lockyer, Gorden Tallis and Allan Langer.
On Friday night, in front of a sold-out crowd on a historic night for the NRL, Carrigan could become the competition’s least experienced captain since Ben Galea led out the Wests Tigers in 2001 with 23 games next to his name.
It will be a proud moment for Carrigan and those close to him, but one that should not happen at this stage of his career.
He is not ready to sit alongside some of the greats of the game that have captained the Broncos, and the club shouldn’t be in this position.
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