McLinden dive sinks Broncos
by Chris Cox
Sunday June 27, 2004

Canberra halfback Mark McLinden made several decisive moves during his side's 21-14 win over Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium which ultimately proved the difference.

Arguably the most crucial was late in the second half with his side ahead 18-14 and hit in a brutal tackle by Tonie Carroll.  The Broncos forward fell on McLinden awkwardly, his elbow landing on McLinden's cheek, and the cheeky halfback stayed down.

The video referee investigated and awarded a penalty, which Matthew Gafa duly kicked for a crucial 6-point lead with just 10 minutes remaining. McLinden then landed a field goal with six minutes on the clock to seal victory.

Carroll was put on report for his elbow on McLinden, and is likely to be investigated after hitting McLinden fractionally late after the attempted field goal.  The touch judge reported that Carroll's hit was high although initial video was inconclusive.

Canberra coach Matt Elliott was less doubtful. "I was a little disappointed they didn't have a look at that," he said. "It was late and then it was high, and I thought it warranted a penalty."

McLinden was also in the action early when he sliced through the Broncos defence 30 metres out and showed a clean pair of heels to score beside the posts for a 6-0 lead.

The Raiders thought they'd gone 12 clear soon after when Simon Woolford chased through his own grubber, but video referee Tim Mander - called upon seven times during the contest - ruled Woolford had knocked on in attempting to ground it.  But there was no doubt next time when Woolford rolled over in the tackle of three players and grounded the ball, Mander ruling he did it in time.

The Broncos hit back when Karmichael Hunt scored his eighth try of the season, taking a nice inside pass from Darren Lockyer and then stepping past Clinton Schifcofske to score.

The Broncos were disallowed two more tries in the next 10 minutes by Mander. Petero Civoniceva was ruled to have committed a double movement, before Carroll was held up minutes later.  Phil Graham was disallowed a try in between, Mander ruling the former Redcliffe flyer had hit the cornerpost before grounding the football.

Down 12-6 at the break, the Broncos hit back early in the second when Michael De Vere backed up a Lockyer grubber to score.  Referee Paul Simpkins didn't go to Mander on this occasion, although replays showed De Vere was line ball at best in the chase. "If I scratch my head everytime that happened, there'd be less hair than there is. I'm trying to stick the grey ones back in," Elliott joked after the game.

Canberra pulled ahead with a penalty goal to Matt Gafa before De Vere levelled soon after.  The final turning point came in the 63rd minute when Broncos winger Craig Frawley had the ball raked from his arms by that man, Mark McLinden, who then regathered the ball and put Phil Graham over for a try to put his team ahead 18-14.

Both coaches had differing opinions of that particular try.  Broncos coach Wayne Bennett felt that McLinden had knocked on in the process of stealing the ball, while Elliott thought it was fine. 

Bennett praised the effort but lamented the psychological let down of the State of Origin period. "We tried hard...we were flat, coming down off a high and in the last three years we've done the same thing in the same corresponding game," Bennett said

Bennett lamented the problems the Broncos were having with halfbacks, after losing Brett Seymour for the season, and his replacement Casey McGuire being unable to play due to headaches, then losing Ben Ikin at half time. "I don't know who played halfback after that, I don't think we had one," he said.

Despite the good form of Darren Smith, Bennett ruled out any approach to him to stay on beyond the two weeks he was drafted in for. "It's not the right thing to do," he said. "(Easts) have been great to us to allow it to happen."

Bennett was hopeful that Gorden Tallis, Casey McGuire and Shaun Berrigan would be back for Souths next week. Berrigan has completed a week of full training, but Bennett was keen for the Test utility to have at least two full weeks of training before coming back, after breaking down with a hamstring problem three times this season.

The Broncos' home ground advantage, or lack thereof, was a major talking point in both camps. "We've done better this year than we did last year," Bennett said. "You saw the Raiders performance today, they played tremendous. There hasn't been a team turn up here that's had a bad game."

"It's a place they want to play at. If I was a football player I'd want to play here," Bennett said.

Clinton Schifcofske and Elliott were full of praise for the stadium. "I wish we had this stadium it's magnificent," Schifcofske said. "We've got a pretty good stadium ourselves but this is something very special, I'm sure (the Broncos) will turn it around. I wouldn't mind playing here every second week."

Elliott was reluctant to make any assumptions about the Broncos' inability to win at Suncorp Stadium. Speaking about the Broncos' winning percentage at ANZ Stadium compared with Suncorp Stadium, Elliott said "let's measure them over a three or four year period."

"That's a very very handy side we played tonight and with a great culture, and a lot to admire about the way they run their organisation and there's a lot to use as a benchmark how to run and develop an atmosphere in a club. So there might be some short term concerns about (the winning record at home) but ask me the same question in two years' time," Elliott said.

Neither side suffered any serious injury concerns, with Ikin the only Broncos casualty with a cork.  Canberra's Mark McLinden suffered an odd injury late in the game. "Mark's got a nice cut to his neck, which is a little gory actually," Elliott said.

Ian Hindmarsh suffered a knock to the eye but was expected to play next week. "He'll be fine, he won't be any better looking but he's married and his wife's lovely so he's lucky," Elliott joked, in jovial mood after a gutsy win.