Round 1 2013: BRONCOS vs MANLY

[DIEHARD]

BRONCOS vs MANLY

8:05PM (local) Friday 8th March - Suncorp Stadium

#NRLBRIMAN

Broncos
1 Corey Norman
2 Josh Hoffman
3 Jack Reed
4 Justin Hodges
5 Lachlan Maranta
6 Scott Prince
7 Peter Wallace
8 Josh McGuire
9 Andrew McCullough
10 Sam Thaiday (c)
11 Alex Glenn
12 Matt Gillett
13 Corey Parker

Interchange
14 Ben Hunt
15 Ben Hannant
16 Mitchell Dodds
17 David Stagg
18 Scott Anderson

Coach: Anthony Griffin

[GC_Titans_Fan]

Will the emotion of the Broncos 25th Anniversary be enough to get them over the line against a superior team?

[DIEHARD]

I doubt it.

[TITAN PETE]

Manly confident Stewart will start season

RSS
Ian McCullough AAP Wed, Feb 27, 2013 - 4:14 PM

Manly are confident Brett Stewart will play in the Sea Eagles' NRL opener against Brisbane next Friday despite a salary cap drama.

The four-year contract signed by the NSW fullback last year is still to be registered with the NRL after it was knocked back by salary cap auditor Ian Schubert.

As it stands, Stewart will be unable to run out at Suncorp Stadium, but a club official told AAP that Stewart's deal will be rubber stamped this week.

"Brett Stewart will play in round one, there's no doubt," said newly-appointed head of corporate affairs, Neil Evans.

"It's only a minor thing we are working on, and we're pretty confident it will be signed off very soon."

The club were left with a number of players off-contract after winning the 2011 grand final but key players Kieran Foran, Steve Matai, Daly Cherry-Evans and Matt Ballin all re-signed.

However, Tony Williams, Darcy Lussick, Dean Whare, Michael Oldfield and Daniel Harrison, Vic Mauro and Liam Foran were offloaded as the club battled to meet a number of back-ended contracts agreed to under former coach Des Hasler.

Tom Symonds' move to Manly from Sydney Roosters collapsed on Tuesday when the Sea Eagles were unable to re-structure Stewart's contract to Schubert's satisfaction.

And Sea Eagles chairman Scott Penn admitted it was likely more players could leave as the club tried to balance the books.

"We'll have to make some hard decisions and move on," Penn told Sportal.

"The options are narrowing and we're running out of time so it just needs to be sorted."

Former NSW prop Brent Kite is one player rumoured to be heading for the exit door.

Parramatta coach Ricky Stuart has been frantically looking around for a front-rower to bolster his inexperienced pack and Kite would appear to be a good fit.

However, manager Daryl Mather insists his client is going nowhere.

"If I was a betting man I would say Brent will stay at Manly," Mather told AAP.

"Manly haven't approached us and said they want him to go. He was probably their best forward last year.

"He's feeling very fresh and can go round for another two or three years.

"He's off-contract at the end of the year and may well have to move on to earn the revenue he's getting now at Manly.

"But for now he's staying put."

[TITAN PETE]

They are probably wishing they had let Lyon go now

[TITAN PETE]

Broncos

1 Corey Norman
2 Josh Hoffman
3 Jack Reed
4 Justin Hodges
5 Lachlan Maranta
6 Scott Prince
7 Peter Wallace
8 Josh McGuire
9 Andrew McCullough
10 Sam Thaiday (c)
11 Alex Glenn
12 Matt Gillett
13 Corey Parker

Interchange
14 Ben Hunt
15 Ben Hannant
16 Mitchell Dodds
17 David Stagg
18 Scott Anderson

Coach: Anthony Griffin

[Julius Sezer]

Happy to see Brenton Lawrence in the starting lineup for Manly.

[DIEHARD]

Scott Prince to get no holiday defending in front line for Brisbane Broncos

Scott Prince was wrapped in cotton wool at Gold Coast Titans but he has improved his defence as he won't enjoy that luxury for Brisbane, says Broncos captain Sam Thaiday.

Selected at five-eighth in his first game for his new NRL club against Manly at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night, former Test halfback Prince has packed on a few extra kilograms to help prepare for life in the defensive front-line.

Thaiday made it clear on Monday that former Titans skipper Prince would have to have roll up his sleeves and do his share of tackling.

"I think Princey came to our club and it's the first time he has tackled for a while," said Thaiday.

"I think he was looked after a little bit and wrapped in cotton wool down at the Titans but he's trained really hard and done everything we've done."

"You know I think he has really improved his defence here."

Opposing teams are likely to target 33-year-old veteran Prince, whose tacking statistics were down in 2012.

He finished the season averaging 10.9 tackles per game and a career-worst 4.5 missed tackles.

In contrast, Melbourne's Test halfback Cooper Cronk averages 17.8 tackles and 2.2 missed tackles a game.

Prince's rival on Friday night, Kieran Foran, is one of the best defenders at five-eighth with 16.1 tackles a game and just over three misses.

Manly halfback Daley Cherry-Evans is close to if not the best defensive No.7 in the game averaging 21.4 tackles and 2.5 misses.

His Brisbane counterpart Peter Wallace is also very sound defensively returning 17 tackles and three missed tackles a game.

"Defensively we're not worried about those two guys (Prince and Wallace)," said Thaiday.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news...#ixzz2Mi8XwKxL

[DIEHARD]

Broncos
1. Corey Norman 2. Josh Hoffman 3. Jack Reed 4. Justin Hodges 5. Lachlan Maranta 6. Scott Prince 7. Peter Wallace 8. Josh McGuire 9. Andrew McCullough 10. Sam Thaiday (c) 11. Alex Glenn 12. Matt Gillett 13. Corey Parker

Interchange: 14. Ben Hunt 15. Ben Hannant 16. Mitchell Dodds 17. David Stagg 18. Scott Anderson

Sea Eagles
1. Brett Stewart 2. Jorge Taufua 3. Jamie Lyon 4. Steve Matai 5. David Williams 6. Kieran Foran 7. Daly Cherry-Evans 8. Brenton Lawrence 9. Matt Ballin 10. Brent Kite 11. Anthony Watmough 12. Justin Horo 13. Jamie Buhrer

Interchange: 14. Richie Fa'aoso 15. Joe Galuvao 16. David Gower 17. Jesse Sene-Lefao 19. Peta Hiku 22. George Rose

[Toads]

Good to see the Donkies picked up from where they left off last year.

[Tamwelg]

BJ looked strong. Teflon missed his usual amount of tackles and passed a long way before the line. Hodges... Love him or hate him he can play. I thought Manly were very ordinary and still won.

[Toads]

BJ looked strong. Teflon missed his usual amount of tackles and passed a long way before the line. Hodges... Love him or hate him he can play. I thought Manly were very ordinary and still won.

Yup, Hodges did set up a couple of good tries tonight.

[Mexican titan]

Just back from the game. Manly without Glenn Stewart and Jason King and had only 2 (losing) trials against three trials for the Broncos. As a Manly member I thought Manly might be a bit underdone for the Broncos but even though Manly didn't play that well the Broncos had very little. They will miss the 8. I thought Lawrence was just about the best player on the field, worked his backside off all night. Looked like a different player to what we had here.....which is a bit of a worry.

[Smakked]

Broncs are lucky they have Hodges this year, lastnight with out him , even tho manly played bad it would have bee a blow out with out JH there, he is all they have this year, they wont make the 8

[TITAN PETE]

Almost choked when I saw the Donkeys were 5th Premiership favorites earlier this week , they will be fighting with the Eels & Panthers for the spoon