The founding director and chairman of the Brisbane Broncos have stated that the team has overpaid for young players “based on potential,” but Reece Walsh’s new $6 million contract will only make matters worse. In 2024, the Broncos saw the greatest collapse in team history as they went from being champions to being 12th in the standings.
The investigation into what went wrong is far advanced, and chairman Barry Maranta believes there aren’t enough tough attackers on the present squad. Hitmen like Tonie Carroll, Peter Ryan, and Trevor Gillmeister, as well as “hard heads” like Glenn Lazarus, Shane Webcke, Gorden Tallis, and Brad Thorn, were all part of the legendary Broncos squads of the past.
Copen, a 6-foot-6 right-hander, started the year in Class-A.
Cucamonga Rancho. He was 5-2 in 13 games (11 starts) with a 3.15 ERA in 54.1 innings.
Copen received a promotion to Great Lakes, the Dodgers’ Class-A Midwest League affiliate, on June 25.
Copen was 3-2 with a 4.21 ERA in eight starts for the Loons, recording 36.1 innings pitched with 35 strikeouts and 27 walks. He was being hit only.248 by opponents.
Copen has made 24 appearances in minor league games over the course of the last two seasons, starting 21 of them. The product of Parkersburg, West Virginia, has pitched 95 innings, giving up just 76 hits, walking 55, and striking out 97.
The native of Belpre, Ohio spent four years as a baseball player at Parkersburg Catholic High School.
The 2024 club traded for players like Jayden Hunt and Fletcher Baker after losing Tom Flegler and Kurt Capewell to the Dolphins and Warriors, respectively. The Broncos’ forward group, which included very disappointing second rowers Jordan Riki and Brendan Piakura, was a shell of the group that advanced them to the 2023 Super Bowl.
However, Payne Haas, Ezra Mam, and Patrick Carrigan’s recent large contracts left the club’s management mostly powerless. “I think that our overpaid young people are the root of the issue. Twenty and twenty-one-year-olds cannot defeat twenty-eight and twenty-nine-year-olds,” Maranta said to the AAP on Sunday.
“We approached the situation by paying for potential. The Broncos and London Broncos are two teams I have owned. I know it is tempting to do it, but it seems like we didn’t have enough money for any hard heads. I want to find out where we are going to acquire our tough heads from by having coffee with the (hierarchy). You don’t pay for potential. You pay for CVs and scrapbooks.”
Losing Herbie Farnworth ‘biggest mistake Broncos ever made’
Young forwards Ben Te Kura (20), Piakura (22), Riki (24) and Xavier Willison (22) are among the Broncos’ roster options. Although test forwards Haas and Carrigan lead the pack and play a lot of minutes, the Broncos must rebuild around them.
Maranta remarked, “They work hard, but they don’t intimidate.” “Capewell has a rigid mindset. Every squad requires them. We mentioned Lazarus. Wayne Bennett’s methodical selection of his team is something we can all emulate.
“Wayne’s work with the Dolphins’ forward pack is a perfect example of how to put a team together, as demonstrated by his actions. Like Felise Kaufusi, they have s*** in them. Some people are as tough as the Bromwich brothers.
“Recall that the media claimed he was unable to purchase this player or that player, but he managed to assemble a front pack with firm heads. Then he got Herbie Farnworth and the Hammer (Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow). The worst decision we’ve ever made was to let Herbie leave the Broncos, but Wayne was wealthy.”
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