NRL title in Broncos’ grasp: Carrigan

Joel Gould | December 10, 2022

Brisbane prop Pat Carrigan won it all on the representative front in 2022 but there is a missing piece of his NRL career jigsaw that he wants to put in place.

The 24-year-old will have minor ankle surgery next week before returning to Broncos training on January 4 with the goal of breaking the club’s 17-year premiership drought.

Carrigan just had the best season on a personal level in his career. He was awarded the Wally Lewis Medal as the player of the series in Queensland’s State of Origin series win then played a key role for Australia in the successful defence of their World Cup title.

Each of the 17 that played in the World Cup decider for Australia have won NRL finals matches apart from Carrigan. Many of them have won premierships and Carrigan now wants to “be like them”.

“All of the rep accolades are nice and being part of those teams but all I ever wanted to do as a kid was play for the Brisbane Broncos, and second to that was win a comp’,” he said at the launch of the Broncos new jersey for next year.

“Every year that rolls around that we don’t do that is ‘X amount’ of years since 2006.

“Being around those (World Cup) guys and the Penrith guys has made me hungrier than ever to put myself in that position.”

Carrigan said he learned plenty from the way the dual-premiership winning Panthers players talk about rugby league.

“It sounds weird but just the way they talk about their footy in an open forum. No-one is having a go at each other but everything they talk about is getting better,” Carrigan said.

“It is part of their culture and it is something we can do better at the club. In saying that, they are all freaks as well.”

Carrigan said Brisbane’s football “lacked a bit of polish” last season but added that everyone at the club was hungry for success.

“You play to win grand finals and be part of the big games. That is what I want to do next year,” he said.

“We need to find consistency and then another gear. Clubs like Penrith and Melbourne know how to get it done, and we are learning that at the moment.

“There are areas that Kev (Walters) is stressing at the moment that need to be more squeaky clean and that is what we are working on.”

Carrigan will now go under the knife but he said it would not impact his training schedule.

“I just get a little ankle cleanout next week. It is a two or three week (recovery) and then I am back at training in the New Year,” he said.

“I’ll just soak up the sun and enjoy the last couple of weeks before a big year.”