Blair desperate to win a ‘proper’ premiership
BRONCOS prop Adam Blair has broken ranks and declared he wants to win a premiership “properly” after Melbourne was stripped of its 2009 title for salary cap rorting.
Blair will return to AAMI Park tomorrow night when Brisbane attempts to knock off the minor premiers and qualify for their second grand final in three years.
The Broncos enforcer spent the first six years of his NRL career at the Storm – five of those during Melbourne’s systemic rorting of the salary cap under a former administration.
The NRL stripped Melbourne of the 2007 and 2009 premierships after discovering payments totalling nearly $4 million were paid to players outside the cap from 2006-10. There is no suggestion Blair received illegal payments.
The 2009 grand final win against Parramatta remains Blair’s only triumph in a premiership decider.
He did not play in Melbourne’s 2007 defeat of Manly and came off the bench when the Storm were thumped 40-0 by the Sea Eagles in 2008.
Blair was in the Brisbane team beaten by North Queensland in the epic 2015 grand final.
In defiance of the NRL, Storm players have maintained they are still the champions of the 2007 and 2009 seasons, but Blair admitted he wants to taste legitimate success.
“I’d love to win a premiership,” he said.
“It’s been a while since those moments. We got close in 2015 and there is an opportunity here for us to do something special.
“We worked hard for that (2009) and through the pre-season for the same goal and reasons. Everyone did their bit throughout the year.
“We turned up on the night and played as good as we could and got the win.
“I’ve still got the ring but it would be nice to do it properly.
“It would be good to be able to go and give it a good shake.”
Blair, 31, made his debut for Melbourne in 2006 and developed into a Kiwi Test star before heading to the Wests Tigers in 2012.
He failed to reach those lofty heights during three years at the Tigers before reinvigorating his career under Wayne Bennett at Brisbane in 2015.
Blair will leave the Broncos at season’s end to finish his career at the Warriors and nothing would be sweeter than a fairytale farewell.
But the Broncos must first get past one of the most dominant teams in NRL history to qualify for the October 1 grand final.
“I had a good start to my career there. That’s where it all began for me,” Blair said.
“To go down there and play against a quality side that’s been pretty dominant over a decade, and this year, will be tough.
“There is unpredictability with us where if we can go down there, we’ve got players who if we can get ball to and play some footy, they won’t like that kind of stuff.
“If you turn up, get stuck in and play the way you want to play, anyone can beat anyone on their day.”
Blair’s teammates are aware of his impending departure and want to send him out a winner, particularly following their 2015 heartbreak.
“I think Adam was pretty young when Melbourne won it so he would appreciate this one a lot more now,” hooker Ben Hunt said.