Hunt, Hunt, Hunt, Hunt
by
Sunday July 04, 2004

The Brisbane Broncos have secured outright third spot on the Telstra Premiership ladder after a 48-28 win over South Sydney at Suncorp Stadium featuring four tries to 17-year-old fullback, Karmichael Hunt.

Hunt, in just his 15th first grade game, took his overall tryscoring tally to 12, leading the Broncos' tryscoring list by four from Craig Frawley and Michael De Vere. He joins an illustrious list with former internationals Steve Renouf and Wendell Sailor in scoring four tries in a game for the club.

The Broncos led 22-10 at half time before going on with the job in the second, passing 40 for the first time in 47 games, the last time being their 48-20 win over Melbourne in 2002.

That performance in itself is remarkable given the Broncos were without their six State of Origin representatives, and having Tonie Carroll suspended, halfback Brett Seymour and first choice hooker Barry Berrigan on the sideline for the season with injuries.

Hunt's first try stamped his strength and skill.  With the Broncos leading 10-0, Hunt took a neat inside ball to sprint though a yawning gap up the middle of the ruck. He came to the fullback, Brad Watts holding him but Hunt found a way to shrug him off then put the foot down, beating the cover for pace to score.

His second, third and fourth tries, Brisbane's last three tries, were almost carbon copies of eachother. Hunt drifted left, trying to put Frawley away before the ball was turned back inside for Hunt to score.

Skipper Gorden Tallis made a successful return from injury, scoring the first try and setting up another for Frawley just minutes later to put the Broncos ahead 10-0 after just seven minutes. Tallis ran the ball hard and produced some quality second phase play to constantly trouble the Souths defence.

But South Sydney showed plenty of enterprise in attack. They got their first when David Stagg was harshly ruled to have knocked on 20 out from his own line. Promising halfback Joe Williams put interchange forward David Thompson over from close range to reduce the score to 18-6.

Both sides were denied tries by the video referee before Shaun Berrigan scored a vintage Broncos try, finishing a movement which included almost a dozen players. Brisbane led 22-6 and looked certain to take that scoreline into half time before Souths scored in the corner after the half time siren.

A revitalised Carl Webb scored shortly after half time to extend the lead before laying the platform for Neville Costigan to score his first first grade try for the Broncos to lead 34-10.

Souths hit back with debutant John Sutton scoring out wide after a neat pass from former Bronco Ashley Harrison. Harrison then scored himself soon after to again get within two converted tries.

However, Hunt went on his tryscoring rampage in the final minutes to ensure a convincing win.

The Broncos will take plenty out of a win without their stars. Carl Webb stepped up given the opportunity playing one of his strongest games since his last Origin performance in 2002. Hunt and Tallis were the main difference between the two sides, the former's class combining with the latter's brutality and power. Berrigan made a successful return from a hamstring injury, but the joy from that will be subdued somewhat for Bennett with the news that Michael De Vere will be missing next week after aggravating a hamstring injury he took into the game. De Vere wasn't fit but he gutsed out a solid performance.

South Sydney have plenty to be positive about as well. Harrison continues to lead the side strongly, while Williams is shaping as one of the game's genuine champion halfbacks if his early career form is anything to go by. Debutantes Wood and Sutton played strongly in the centres, showing that without Lee Hookey and Luke MacDougall there's still plenty of hope. Up front Paul Stringer, Glenn Hall and Scott Geddes toiled hard but probably got outenthused by their younger rivals.

While the Broncos continued their trend of getting to a big lead before switching off, coach Bennett was reluctant to be critical given the club was missing their stars. Bennett was content with a win in a game which they failed to win last season.

The win puts the Broncos outright third leading up to their Friday night clash with the red hot St George-Illawarra Dragons next Friday.