Pat Carrigan opens up on Brisbane’s NRL Grand Final heartbreak

Pat Carrigan joined the Broncos to work with Wayne Bennett. But when the opportunity arose to rejoin the master coach, he said no. He reveals why in a wide-ranging interview.

Pat Carrigan insists the worst grand-final collapse in NRL history will not break the Broncos and has backed Brisbane’s band of young guns, led by Reece Walsh, to snap the club’s 18-year title drought.

In his first interview since Brisbane’s big-game heartbreak, Carrigan opened up about one of the most painful losses in the club’s 35-year history, admitting the Penrith capitulation will sting for some time.

The Broncos launch their 2024 pre-season on Thursday — 53 days after Brisbane inexplicably blew a 24-8 lead as Penrith charged home to pull off a 26-24 great escape at Accor Stadium.

No team in the 69-year history of official grand finals has given up a bigger lead in a decider — eclipsing the Dragons botching a 14-0 advantage to lose the 1999 decider against the Storm.

“It’s going to burn for a little bit,” Carrigan said as the Broncos prepare to return to training at Red Hill this week.

THE FIGHTBACK

By rights, the NRL premiership should be on display in the foyer of Brisbane’s $27 million high-performance centre, sitting alongside the club’s six other titles.

Instead, the Broncos must embark on another scorching summer empty-handed.

There is a view Brisbane’s playing group will be mentally broken by the gut-wrenching title defeat.

Broncos lock Pat Carrigan is adamant Brisbane can go all the way in 2024.

The last Brisbane team to have their hearts broken on grand-final day — the Broncos class of 2015 who lost in extra-time to the Cowboys — failed to recover 12 months later, bombing out in week two of the 2016 playoffs.

But Carrigan is adamant Kevin Walters’ troops will not be scarred by the Penrith implosion and will again challenge for the title in 2024.

“I think this will make us stronger,” Carrigan said.

“Any hardship you have makes you better.

“We can’t sulk about it and pretend it didn’t happen. It’s something we have to learn from to get better and I know as a group, we’re going to be better.

“I’ll spend the off-season thinking about what happened and I’ll come back to pre-season just as hungry as I was this year.

“In another 12 months, it will be pretty special to see where this group can get to.

“There’s more growth in us.”

THE HEARTBREAK

While many Broncos had plenty of empty days and weeks to digest the grand-final result, Carrigan had little time to rest and process. The Broncos ironman was chosen for Australia’s Pacific Championships tournament.

That series also ended in tears for Carrigan. Australia were flogged 30-0 in the final by the Kiwis, but the Queensland Origin lock has since had time to confront the fallout of Brisbane’s seemingly unlosable grand final.

“It’s a bit weird to be honest,” Carrigan said of the grand-final collapse.

Broncos players were left gutted by their grand-final collapse against the Panthers.

“I had to go straight into Aussie camp for the Pacific Championships so I didn’t have too much downtime to process it.

“We had a great opportunity to win the premiership but Penrith hung in there and got us in the end. The dust has settled now, the game is done and we can’t change what happened.

“You ask anyone who loses a grand final, definitely it’s painful. But rather than it be an end point, I would like to think it will be a big journey in my mind of where we are going as a group.

“In my eyes, we are just getting started. We can take some lessons from what happened.”

THE MISSION

Carrigan points to Brisbane’s very nemesis, the Panthers, as a barometer of how a team can go from grand-final agony to premiership ecstasy.

“Whilst Penrith have won three straight premierships, they lost their first grand final, too (in 2020 against Melbourne),” Carrigan said.

“So it’s a process about us getting better and learning from losing a grand final.

Carrigan says the Broncos can learn from the Panthers, who bounced back from their 2020 grand-final loss.

“It won’t break us.

“There is such a big ceiling for a lot of the boys in this team and that’s the exciting thing.

“‘Kevvie’ will keep us humble and grounded — I have no doubt we can win it next year if we want to achieve that.”

REECE LIGHTNING

Carrigan has a chilling warning for NRL rivals. He says Brisbane’s breakout player of 2023, whiz-kid Reece Walsh, has only scratched the surface of his talent and can lead the Broncos to title glory next season.

While the 21-year-old superstar had some incredible highs last season, Walsh was left gutted in the dying minutes of the NRL decider. He was the last of four players to miss Nathan Cleary as the Panthers champion speared through to score the premiership-winning try.

It was another lesson learned for Walsh, who was suspended by the NRL judiciary in June for abusing a referee. At the time, Walsh claimed he was swearing at Carrigan. The pair are good mates — they used to live together — and Carrigan believes Walsh is entering his prime years after 60 first-grade games.

Carrigan says his good mate Reece Walsh will get even better next season.

“I do think Reece can go to another level next year,” Carrigan said.

“Reece is a good mate of mine and he will be burning from some of the stuff that happened in the grand final.

“He is always looking for improvements. He had a massive year for us last year, he started to find his niche in our game and with time, it’s only going to make him more comfortable with his role in our team.

“The more they play together, the more Reece will complement (Broncos halves) Ezra (Mam) and ‘Reyno’ (Adam Reynolds).

“The lesson for Reece is when to do a lot and when not to do too much. He is only 21.

“If people think this year was his ceiling, they will be wrong.”

LOCK IT IN

Brisbane have a big decision to make with their front row next season. The loss of Tom Flegler to the Dolphins leaves a massive void in the No. 8 jumper.

There has been talk of Carrigan shifting from lock to prop to partner Payne Haas, but the Maroons and Kangaroos ace is keen to remain in his beloved No. 13 jumper.

“It’s all news to me (about moving positions),” he said with a laugh.

“I’m always a team player and the Broncos come first.

Carrigan is determined to remain in the Broncos’ No. 13 jumper next season.

“If they needed me to move to prop, I would, but I think my growth at 13 has been pretty good this year.

“That’s where I’d like to stay and Kev has put that confidence in me to grow my game to another level.

“I’m really confident being a lighter fella that my best footy can be played at 13, but it’s a team sport and you do what’s best for the team.

“If there’s a brick wall to run through for the Broncos, I’ll do it.

“I have learnt so much in the 13 and my best footy for the Broncos is in that position I believe.

“I want to add more variation to my game. I am a big believer that you have to keep adapting and keep working on new elements if you want to keep succeeding in this game.

“I’m not satisfied.”

BRONCO FOR LIFE

Well before the Dolphins poached Flegler and Herbie Farnworth, super coach Wayne Bennett tried to get his hands on Carrigan.

Bennett, who left Brisbane in 2018, had helped nurture a young Carrigan at Red Hill.

In his first weeks in the Dolphins hot seat, Bennett met with Carrigan. He told the then 23-year-old, reeling from Brisbane’s wooden-spoon campaign in 2020, there were gaps in his game that could be finetuned with the right mentoring at Redcliffe.

Midway through the 2023 season, six clubs, including the Storm, showed interest in Carrigan.

Wayne Bennett poached Broncos duo Tom Flegler and Herbie Farnworth, but failed in his bid for Carrigan.

And while he admits he was tempted by Bennett’s initial pitch, Carrigan showed his loyalty in March by inking a massive five-year deal to stay at the Broncos until the end of 2028.

By then, Carrigan wants to conquer his final frontier — holding aloft the NRL trophy.

“It does go through your mind, whether you could benefit from going somewhere else,” Carrigan said of the Dolphins’ interest.

“I have massive respect for Wayne and everything he did. I actually signed with the Broncos because of Wayne, he’s the greatest coach and he was special when I first came here.

“But when it came to making a call, I just love this club and I love playing with my good mates.

“We’ve been through some tough times and I didn’t want to walk away from that.

“‘Kevvie’ brought that enjoyment back for me … the Broncos are everything and everywhere I wanted to be.”

Originally published as Pat Carrigan opens up on Brisbane’s NRL Grand Final heartbreak