STORM v BRONCOS
Etihad Stadium, 9.45 tonight
He's arguably the greatest player of the past decade, but Brisbane coach Ivan Henjak says Darren Lockyer isn't the be-all and end-all of the Broncos' success.
Rather, it is the other 16 players in the Broncos side that will determine whether Brisbane can upset title favourites Melbourne in today's NRL
preliminary final.
With halfback Peter Wallace out injured, and young utility Alex Glenn filling the void, all the focus will be on Lockyer to steer the Broncos to an eighth straight victory and a spot in the grand final.
But Henjak was quick to point out that Lockyer will not stand a chance if his teammates don't provide a platform for him.
"We've been in this position before with Locky being out at different times and Peter Wallace being out at different times and I think both players have handled that pretty well," said Henjak.
"The difficult thing is going to be the Storm are going to put a lot of pressure on Locky.
"It's going to be the other players' jobs to make sure he gets time and space to do what he needs to do.
"We don't want to be chasing a lot of points. If our defence can do the job properly it won't put pressure on our attack minus Peter Wallace."
Wallace's absence will force major changes to Brisbane's attacking structure as the NSW halfback had been doing most of the kicking and set up several crucial plays in Brisbane's attack in recent weeks.
While Lockyer will pick up most of that slack, it remains unclear how much time Glenn will spend at halfback despite being named in the No 7 jumper.
Glenn has spent a lot of time training at hooker during the week and while the Broncos completed most of their final session at Etihad Stadium behind closed doors, Henjak revealed several players could be used in the halves including Tonie Carroll, Ben Te'o and hooker Andrew McCullough.
Despite the uncertainty over his halves, Henjak said creating a game plan had been made easier as most of it would not rest with Lockyer.
"It's probably simplified things even more, actually," he said. "It hasn't been a big drama for us, we've just done a clean swap. Everyone knows their role, it's pretty simple and it'sjust a matter of going out and executing it."
But one thing Henjak has done is lower the expectations on whoever plays alongside Lockyer, telling them not to overplay their hand trying to be like Wallace.
"We're going to play a little bit different in terms of our attack," said Henjak.
"We cannot replace Peter Wallace, so we're not going to try and do that.
"We're just going to let the guy who is playing in that position, Alex and a couple of others who will probably get a run at some stage, we will let them play their natural game.
"I'm pretty sure they won't overplay their hand, we know what our limitations are.
"We have talked about it, we've talked about how we're going to play. Everyone knows their role and what they have to do.
"It will be simple, it's just going to take a hell of a lot of effort."
STORM v BRONCOS
Storm
Billy Slater
Steve Turner
Will Chambers
Greg Inglis
Dane Nielsen
Brett Finch
Cooper Cronk
Aiden Tolman
Cameron Smith (c)
Brett White
Adam Blair
Ryan Hoffman
Dallas Johnson
Interchange: Ryan Hinchcliffe, Jeff Lima, Ryan Tandy, Wairangi Koopu, Scott Anderson (one to be omitted).
Broncos
Karmichael Hunt
A. Winterstein
Israel Folau
Justin Hodges
Jharal Yow Yeh
Darren Lockyer (c)
Alex Glenn
Nick Kenny
A. McCullough
David Taylor
Ashton Sims
Sam Thaiday
Corey Parker
Interchange: Lagi Setu, Tonie Carroll, Ben Te'o, Joel Clinton.
- AAP
