Prince has Broncos primed for climb back to the top

Back at the Broncos, but this time as head coach of the club’s NRLW side, Scott Prince is excited for the season to kick off and for his team to regain their standing as a team to fear in the competition.

The trendsetters of the competition in the early years, the Broncos won three premierships in a row from 2018 to 2020, but fell away last year, being knocked out in the semi finals in the 2021 season and shockingly only recording one victory in season 2022.

“When you got success straight away, you set the standards and then, certainly every club that plays against the Broncos, whether it's in the men's or the women's program, they want to put their best foot forward and we're certainly no different (to experiencing that),” Prince said.

“It’s pretty well documented that the last couple of seasons have been quite poor here for our standards, so for us, it was about that; it was about setting the standards high and to get back to what we know wins footy games and that's having a real hard edge with our work ethic and everyone on board with that.

“The girls have shown that right from the get-go and that was always going to be a part of our recruitment phase; getting girls in here who are willing to put the team first and willing to work hard for one another.”

For season 2023, the side have retained a core squad of players including captain Ali Brigginshaw, back Julia Robinson and forward Chelsea Lenarduzzi, who have both been with the club side since the inception of the competition.

The club have also recruited strongly, bringing on board Queensland Maroons youngster Destiny Brill and Kiwi Fern Mele Hufanga who was a star of the Rugby League World Cup.

“Very excited for her,” Prince said of his powerful centre. “She hit the limelight in the World Cup campaign for the new Zealand team and I think everyone was really surprised, as far as all the clubs, in terms of the recruitment phase and she was certainly one on the list in terms of recruitment.

“She's been training very well; I think it was a bit of an eye-opener in terms of where she needs to be to play NRLW as far as fitness and that mental and physical application to the game.

“But she's come on along quite nicely and I don't want to put too much pressure on her, but she understands (the game), her footy IQ is phenomenal, it's just a matter of displaying that on a more consistent basis.”

Prince has also signed former New Zealand 7s star Gayle Broughton from the Eels to replace Tarryn Aiken in the halves, with the Queensland representative one of a number of past Broncos who will suit up for the Roosters when the two sides face off tomorrow night.

“Gayle is an absolute superstar in her own right, what she did in rugby on the scene there and even last year, she performed really well and even (though she was) still trying to understand the game, you could see that she was still learning at fullback and I think the sort of the penny sort of dropped for her now, she played really well in the All Stars at the start of the year at fullback,” Prince said.

“I watched really closely with her performances in Harvey Norman at five-eighth when she played for the Bulldogs and I sort of identified her as a five-eighth, we knew right from the get-go that we were going to lose Tarryn Aiken to the Roosters, so it was about trying to find a replacement of her standard, if not better and Gayle’s in there and now, so she's obviously got the chance to dominate at the five-eighth position here for the Broncos.

“I think in terms of her combination with Ali, her strength being in the front line defensively, she's rock solid there, her communication inside and out is unbelievable and the fact that she performed really well for the Bulldogs in the Harvey Norman gives me the confidence she'll do the same for us. She has the ability to play a number of positions, but for us, she will be our number six.”

As well as Aiken, former Broncos in the Roosters line up include Millie Boyle, Jayme Fressard and Amber Hall, but Prince said it wouldn’t be a ‘grudge match’.

“What better way to start … you want to be the best in this comp, you have to beat the best and the Roosters have recruited quite well and we're under no illusions that they've got a good footy team,” Prince said.

“They've been playing finals ever since they came to the comp, so it's a real good test for us and we're really excited and we're really looking forward to that challenge.

“I wouldn't say grudge match, but there's a few matchups there that are mouth-watering for everyone, for all the fans and even the players and the coaches who are really excited about the matchups.