GREAT EXPECTATIONS

SUCCESS is never guaranteed, but it’s always expected of the Brisbane Broncos.

If the Broncos are going to be successful in 2019 they need to find consistency.

The team showed in 2018 they could compete with the best sides in the competition, but dropping a number of games against bottom eight sides cost them at the back end of the year. After finishing sixth on the ladder, they were bundled out by the Dragons in the first week of the finals.

For the Broncos to improve on their 2018 season they don’t need one specific player to lift, they need the entire squad to lift.

I’m excited to see how the season unfolds for them.

They’ve had plenty of change, both on and off the field, over the off-season, headlined by Anthony Seibold and Wayne Bennett trading places.

There’s plenty of expectation on the shoulders of new coach Seibold, but he showed last year at the Rabbitohs he could handle that pressure.

I’m not expecting the Broncos to be an overnight success. I think they’ll improve, but they’ll be a work in progress and take some time to reach their full potential.

It’s easy to say Anthony Milford and Kodi Nikorima are the key men for the Broncos, but for me it’s Andrew McCullough.

If Milford and Nikorima are to have the space and time they need to create their magic, they’re going to need their forwards going forward and that starts with the service McCullough gives out of dummy-half.

McCullough may not have the running game of a Damien Cook, but he is a tremendous reader of the play, has a solid kicking game and doesn’t shirk his work in defence.

Turning to the Cowboys, after realising they needed a change in personnel and a change in the way they played the game they have recruited accordingly.

The inclusions of Josh McGuire, Jordan Kahu and Nene McDonald will give the Cowboys some added experience and some of the attacking power missing last year.

McGuire gives the pack tremendous balance and allows Taumalolo to go back to an edge, where he’ll terrorise opposing teams.

The Cowboys lacked speed and spark in their backline in 2018 and will be looking to Justin O’Neill to lift.

O’Neill has played State of Origin and for Australia, and he is a premiership winner.

Last year, however, he struggled in an under-performing Cowboys backline.

If the Cowboys are to threaten the defensive edge of the top teams in the competition, they need players such as O’Neill in top form.

There’s no surprises, though, when it comes to nominating the key man for the Cowboys this season – new skipper Michael Morgan.

Now that Johnathan Thurston