Yvonne Sampson: Broncos must fix recruitment to keep Queensland stars in Queensland
What do Cameron Munster, Cooper Cronk, Josh Papalii, Luke Keary and Cam Smith all have in common? They are all Maroon-grown, playing finals footy and Brisbane dropped the ball in signing all of them, writes Yvonne Sampson.
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Cameron Munster grew up running around the gritty backyards of Rockhampton, dodging bindi patches and scabby knees dreaming to play for the Broncos.
The reason his passion developed for rugby league was because of Darren Lockyer.
A fullback turned five-eighth, Munster idolised the Brisbane legend.
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He tried and tried to score a rep jumper in Central Queensland but was never picked.
Only when Munster was 18 did he finally get a crack in the Mal Meninga Cup, selected at fullback but ending up in the halves. A familiar pattern for the multipurpose footballer.
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The Bulldogs, Broncos and Storm all showed interest in signing him, but he wanted to go to Red Hill.
There was a preliminary one year contract on the table, but it was quickly taken away with Brisbane ringing his manager saying they were no longer interested.
“My heart sunk a little” Munster said.
He went down to Melbourne, and is now a premiership winner, the Origin captain-in-waiting and 80 minutes away from another grand final.
How are the Broncos going?
You could say Munster was an anomaly for the club, but he’s not.
Cameron Smith is from Logan, Cooper Cronk went to school around the corner from The Gabba, Josh Papalii learned his hard headed footy in Woodridge, Luke Keary started playing in Ipswich.
These are just the guys who are running out this weekend. Queenslanders, representing the best four teams in the comp and none of them wear maroon and gold.
By rights, Brisbane should have a monopoly over the talent pool from Yatala to Yeppoon. So why is there a vacancy in the famous Broncos No.7 jersey?
Actually, it’s insane.
There is a deep concern here around recruitment.
Why can’t the Broncos with all of the fan and corporate support, find the right mix of players to do the job? They’ve got a world class training set-up, a 52,000 seat stadium and an entire capital city behind them. Plus the weather is warm and real estate relatively cheap compared to Sydney and Melbourne shoeboxes.
Life is good up here, yet the Broncos keep losing the best players.
The team has such a competitive advantage, they should be playing deep into the finals every single year.
It wasn’t that long ago when a Broncos team was full of Queensland rep players 1-17.
Now they are scattered all across the competition. Our Maroons are diluted around the NRL and yes, I understand the salary cap means the club can’t keep everyone, but they should at least try to have most of the best talent in our state.
Broncos coach Anthony Seibold is a Rockhampton product just like Munster. He grew up in a rugby league family, with his father and uncle respected country leaders.
Anthony went from a Central Queensland ball boy to coaching one of the most famous rugby league teams in the world.
Seibold’s off-season fire sale is about making sure the next Munster or Smith aren’t forced away from their hometowns or the clubs they grew up wanting to play for.
Because wanting to play in Broncos colours is worth more than the state of the art facilities. The emotional investment is real.
Just because you have a high performance Porsche, doesn’t mean you’re a good driver. It can, however, make you think you’re pretty good.
Look at Des Hasler at Manly. The Sea Eagles have 40-year-old demountables with BYO outdoor furniture at training and asbestos on the hill at Brookvale.
But a different team culture has turned them into a competitive force in the space of one season.
The Broncos have a lot of work ahead of them, but it can be turned around quickly.
A good start would be having champion Queenslanders, play first grade in their home state.
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