Brisbane Broncos old boys gather for united cause to see famous club climb to former great heights

There are many reasons why the Brisbane Broncos have been a powerhouse for decades and a united front is one of them as their old boys gather in their quest to restore Brisbane to its former glory.

The Broncos old boys smoked the peace pipe at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday but will continue to keep the club accountable in the push to make Brisbane great again.

Broncos sponsor Kim Cannon of Firstmac arranged with club great Allan Langer to have a 11th hour get together for the old boys for the Canterbury game following widespread unrest and concern among the former players about the Broncos slide down the premiership ladder.

Around 15 ex-players including Tony Currie, John Plath, Colin Scott, Brad Thorn, Andrew Gee, Craig Teevan and Old Boys president Chris Johns watched the team have a convincing win against a modest opponent with several old boys lining the tunnel and clapping as the players jogged out.

Johns said the night was a significant occasion in the road to a unified push to restore Brisbane to its former glory.

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Former Brisbane Broncos refuse to bow down to criticism of their club.

Far from being grumpy old men, he stressed all the old boys want was to see the club succeed and be great again.

He said that it was not the job of the old boys to get into the specifics of selections and recruitment but he believes the club should review its entire operation to see what had gone wrong in recent years and where it could improve.

“There is all one goal here — win premierships and be successful,’’ Johns said.

“We have seen old boys from other clubs like Parramatta really bagging their club in years and we think it is awful. We don’t want to tell them how to run the club. The old boys should not be about what the coach is doing wrong or what players should be dropped.

“We are way past that. My belief has been there has to major change at the club and they are starting to acknowledge that.

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“There needs to be a proper independent view into the club and how it has conducted business in the past five years, from the CEO through to recruitment.

“They may come back and say they have done a great job but from where I stand it does not look right and it needs to be reviewed.

“For the club to go anywhere we have to be united. We want to show now we are supporting them. Everyone is in it together. We have to knuckle down and get ourselves out of it.’’

“The night was a good start. The problem was being school holidays made it hard to get a lot of the old boys along. Trevor Gillmeister would have wanted to be there, Gavin Allen had his son’s 21st, Matt Gillett was away. It was short notice but we can build on it.’’

Originally published as Brisbane Broncos old boys gather for united cause to see famous club climb to former great heights