NRL 2022: St George Illawarra’s Broncos rejects out to bury Brisbane’s finals dream
They are the seven ex-Broncos ready to plunge one final dagger into a battered Brisbane club whose top eight aspirations are hanging by a thread.
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They are the Red Hill Rejects ready to plunge one final dagger into the battered Broncos.
Dragons contingent Ben Hunt, Josh McGuire, Andrew McCullough, Jaydn Su’A, Jack Bird, Tautau Moga and coach Anthony Griffin are the ex-Broncos who are primed to deliver the bullet to Brisbane’s season in Saturday night’s clash at Kogarah.
No other NRL rival has a Brisbane flavour like the Dragons and St George Illawarra’s ‘Broncos Seven’ have a golden opportunity to haunt their former club by sending Kevin Walters’ troops crashing out of the playoffs race.
Embattled Brisbane need an NRL miracle to make the finals after a stunning late-season collapse and there would be no greater pain than their season ending at the hands of men who once spilled blood for the Broncos.
Former Brisbane skipper Corey Parker says McGuire, Su’A, Bird, Moga and Griffin would love nothing more than to bury the Broncos, especially Dragons No.7 Hunt, who is in Dally M Medal contention.
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Dragons hooker McCullough, a 260-game Broncos legend, is hoping to overcome a knee injury in time to send his former club tumbling out of the finals.
“The Dragons have about six ex-Broncos - they will want to jam it to them,” said Parker, who played with Hunt, McGuire, McCullough and Su’A and was coached by Griffin at the Broncos.
“Blokes like ‘Hunty’, McGuire, Su’A and McCullough will say, ‘Boys, they are coming to our home ground playing for a spot in the finals, stuff these blokes, let’s give it to them and knock them clean out of the finals.
“That will be the mentality of the Dragons’ ex-Bronco players.
“Ben Hunt in particular has every incentive to play well. He is right up there for the Dally M Medal and if he has a blinder against the Broncos, it could clinch the Dally M for him.
“It shapes as a cracking contest.”
Broncos director of football Ben Ikin makes no attempt to underestimate the challenge ahead.
“It’s been an awful month of football from us but with the door to the finals slightly ajar you’d hope that getting focused and energetic won’t be a problem this week against the Dragons,’’ Ikin said.
The Dragons posse of Hunt, McCullough, McGuire, Su’A, Bird and Moga played a collective 716 games for the Broncos.
Meanwhile, Griffin coached Brisbane for four seasons between 2011-14, winning 54 of 101 games for a 53 per cent success rate and steering the Broncos to the preliminary final in 2011.
What makes this contest even more compelling is the fact the Broncos Seven have varying degrees of bad blood and scar tissue from their time at Red Hill.
Griffin was ruthlessly sacked in 2014 to make way for the return of Wayne Bennett.
Bird was released after a shocking injury toll headlined by two knee reconstructions and Moga lasted just one season in 2017 before being offloaded to Newcastle.
McGuire was squeezed out due to salary cap pressures, Su’A was unwanted by former coach Anthony Seibold and the Broncos refused to enter a bidding war when the Dragons offered a $6 million deal to Hunt.
Now Queensland Origin star Hunt can have the last laugh by driving the final nail into the Broncos’ coffin in his bid to win the Dally M Medal.
Broncos winger Corey Oates played more than 150 games with Hunt, McGuire and McCullough and is acutely aware of their competitive fire.
“They are quality players and they (the Dragons) have a lot of them (ex-Broncos),” Oates said.
“They are all greats of the game in their own way, but we can’t worry about the Dragons and the talent they have.
“We can’t look at that, we have to look at ourselves and what we have to fix.
“Everyone here is hurting. It’s not a good feeling, but we have to take this anger into the Dragons game.”
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Originally published as NRL 2022: St George Illawarra’s Broncos rejects out to bury Brisbane’s finals dream
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