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Message: [QUOTE="Broncoman, post: 2705196, member: 7803"] [B]2006 Preliminary Final, Canterbury Bulldogs V Brisbane Broncos, September 22nd 2006, Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney [/B] Down and out at halftime the Broncos inspired by Justin Hodges and Darren Lockyer conjure one of the greatest comebacks seen in finals footy to make it through to the Grand Final. [B]Road to the preliminary final[/B] The Bulldogs rebounded from a dissapointing 2005 where they missed the finals a year after winning the premiership to finish 2nd in 2006 behind the imperious Storm who only lost 4 games and won the minor premiership by 8 points. They eliminated the Raiders 30-12 in the first week of the finals to get a week's rest and a preliminary final visit. The Broncos on the other hand endured a roller coaster of a year. After a 36-4 flogging against North Queensland in Round 1 the Broncos came back but as usual fell into a slump after Origin and lost 5 straight games from round 18 to 23. They found form at the end of the year beating the Bulldogs, Eels and Warriors 30-0, 23-0 and 36-12 respectively to finish 3rd. The Dragons defeated Brisbane 20-4 in the first week of the finals but the Broncos kept their season alive with a 50-6 mauling of a injury plagued Knights to advance another week. [B]1st half [/B] Both sides looked turned on from the start and threw the ball around in good conditions for footy. Shaun Berrigan opened the scoring in the 9th minute after Perry stood in a tackle and passed to Berrigan who went over. Lockyer converted and the score was 6-0. The Broncos lead was short lived as the Bulldogs hit back minutes later, Asotasi broke through the middle and passed to Dan Holdsworth who scored, El Masri continued his successful run of goal kicking with an easy conversion leveling the score. Brent Tate was denied a try because of an obstruction and then he overran the ball in his own half that gave the Bulldogs a chance which they took as Sherwin picked a loose ball from Mason and touched down between the posts. The Bulldogs were now on a roll and a goal from El Masri pushed the lead to 8 and the lead then became 14 as Utai powered over in the corner and El Masri converted from the sideline. Canterbury continued mounting pressure in the last 10 minutes before halftime but Hodges denied them with some desperate defensive plays. The Broncos were out on their feet and exhausted by Canterbury's intensity as the teams went to halftime with the Bulldogs ahead 20-6 with Sherwin calling the shots superbly. [B]2nd half [/B] Bennett's move of Hodges to fullback proved to be the masterstroke as Hodges in the 44th minute started one of the greatest tries. He fielded a long kick from Sherwin on his goal line, he moved infield and powered up the field through the middle and 35 meters from his line he passed to Berrigan who ran for the corner and planted the ball spectacularly on his head in the tackle of Mason. Brisbane were boosted in confidence and Dane Carlaw brought the margin back to 2 after a Bulldogs mistake in their half. With 20 minutes left lead up work from Hannant, Lockyer and Tate sent 19 year old Darius Boyd over and the Broncos had turned a 14 point gap into a 2 point lead. The Bulldogs were completely lost and shot to pieces and the Broncos continued their stampede as Lockyer, Tate and Parker added tries in the final 20 minutes and with Lockyer icing a field goal the Broncos had remarkably won 37-20 and advanced into their 6th grand final. [B] Match summary[/B] Very entertaining game that shows that finals footy doesn't need a softening up period there was none of that here. The Bulldogs just lost all confidence and momentum after halftime after dominating the first half and the Broncos got a sniff and a spray from Willie Mason that was enough for them to play the perfect half of footy and to silence the crowd. The Broncos completed 18/19 sets after halftime. [B]Broncoman man of the match; [/B][B]Justin Hodges [/B] The commentators praised Lockyer who undoubtedly played a big role but I personally thought Hodges was my MOM. He was dangerous with the ball all night, he came up with some big plays defensively before halftime which stopped the Bulldogs lead from going to 20. He lifted the team with the amazing Berrigan try when it was needed most and he was almost unstoppable after being switched to fullback from Bennett. He was always there when his team needed him in dire straits and there is nothing more than you can ask for then that. [B]Brisbane Broncos 37; [/B]2 tries by Shaun Berrigan, tries by Darius Boyd, Dane Carlaw, Darren Lockyer, Corey Parker and Brent Tate, goal by Lockyer and 3 goals by Parker and a field goal from Lockyer [B]Beat Canterbury Bulldogs 20; [/B]Tries by Dan Holdsworth, Brent Sherwin and Matt Utai, 4 goals by Hazem El Masri [B]Notes [/B] - Brent Sherwin was superb in the first half and it reminded me of what a talent he was. He had a great running and short kicking game that could tear teams to pieces as he was one of the Bulldogs go to men back then. - The Bulldogs collapse has no direct villain. Brisbane just got a sniff, got some confidence back and they went on to demolish Canterbury after the break. - Brisbane's comeback was the 3rd biggest in a finals match. 1st being the Eels V Knights 1997 (18 points) and 2nd being the Eels V Bulldogs 1998 (16 points). The Paul Carige game - It turns out Hodges and Berrigan scored another try like that in 2006. In the round 24 game against Canterbury they did it there as well. - Willie Mason gave the Broncos a complete spray as they went up the tunnel at hafltime. He bellowed "You're gone Broncos you've got nothing Brisbane". It pissed the guys off and they came back and made him eat his words. - Lockyer was praised and seemed to get most of the credit. This is the only thing that bothers me about players like him as they get all the praise all the time when there are 16 other blokes who contributed as well. Same thing happened with Johns-Newcastle, Thurston-Cowboys, Hayne and Gallen-2014 NSW. Examples of the top of my head. - Shane Perry did a very good job at halfback. He did everything asked of him. [B] Brisbane Broncos[/B] 5: Kharmichael Hunt 2: Darius Boyd 1: Justin Hodges 4: David Stagg 3: Brent Tate 6: Darren Lockyer (Captain) 7: Shane Perry 8: Shane Webcke 9: Shaun Berrigan 10: Petero Civoniceva 11: Sam Thiaday 12: Brad Thorn 13: Tonie Carroll 14: Corey Parker 15: Dane Carlaw 16: Ben Hannant 17: Casey McGuire Coach: Wayne Bennett [B]Canterbury Bulldogs [/B] 1: Luke Patten 2: Hazem El Masri 3: Andrew Emelio 20: Ben Roberts 5: Matt Utai 6: Dan Holdsworth 7: Brent Sherwin 8: Mark O'Meley 9: Corey Huges 14: Roy Asotasi 11: Willie Mason 12: Andrew Ryan 13: Sonny Bill Williams 4: Reni Maitua 10: Nate Myles 15: Adam Perry 16: Chris Armit Coach: Steve Folkes [media=youtube]UD85S5uKmnQ[/media] [/QUOTE]

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