Brisbane’s forwards have found the aggressive mongrel lacking in the early premiership rounds with their starting pack grinding out more metres than the top four NRL sides in recent weeks.
After some worrying early signs against Manly in their opening-round 22-14 loss and again when outmuscled by the Sydney Roosters 8-0 in round three, the Broncos pack have made it their mission to win the forward battles.
Their mindset changed three weeks ago when premiers Melbourne threatened to embarrass them in front of 41,000 fans after racing out to a 14-0 lead after just 15 minutes.
In their past three games, Brisbane’s starting pack carved out 1828 metres — more than any of the top four sides, Manly (1668m), Melbourne (1505m) South Sydney (1399m) and the Roosters (1299m).
They averaged 68 metres a game more against quality sides than for their first three games of the season.
Prop Ben Hannant, whose early-season form was good enough to have him playing in Friday night’s Canberra Test match, said Brisbane had responded to a challenge from coach Anthony Griffin to put some mongrel into winning the crucial battle in the middle.
“The coach wanted us to take the job personally against the other front-rowers,” said Hannant.
“The best way to make it tough for them is not to let them have an easy waltz into your half and to keep them down their own end of the field.
“It’s not easy to do. It’s actually very hard to do. It takes a lot of effort but it wins football games.
“We all know our roles a lot better, we believe in the game plan, we know it works and you can see blokes aren’t waiting for other blokes to do the one percenters – they’re lining up to do them.”
Hannant said he’d realised this year more than ever the importance ruck forwards played.
“It’s not just me. Sammy (Sam Thaiday), Coz (Corey Parker), Davey Hala, Scotty Anderson – all those boys have really bought in,” he said.
“We’ve made it personal to get over the other pack and defend better than the other pack.
“Since we’ve been doing that, we’ve been getting the wins against teams with high completions playing very good football.
“If we do that job, it gives blokes like Reedy (Jack Reed) and (Josh) Hoffman and those guys to get the overlaps and work their skills.”
Hannant said the next block of six games was important to get some points on the ladder ahead of State of Origin, when the club would lose some players to rep duty.
Brisbane’s forward stocks will receive a boost for their round-seven clash with the Wests Tigers with hard-running prop Josh McGuire expected back from a calf injury.
