Departing NRL legend given a fitting send off in his final game.
The Brisbane Broncos have given five-eighth Scott Prince the perfect going away present as they score a morale boosting 16-11 victory over the Canterbury Bulldogs at Suncorp Stadium.
Earlier this year Prince said he would walk away from the game that he has played at the highest level for the past 16 years.
And with the club not playing in the NRL finals next weekend, it was all the motivation they needed as they ground out the victory in an, at times, mistake riddled performance from both teams.
Canterbury earned good meters early in the clash with the Queensland side as they looked to get their big forward into the contest early.
Brisbane’s defence started to come into its own as they moved up off their line quickly, ensuring good possession thanks to Bulldogs handling mistakes.
Prince celebrated his 300th and last game of his career as he denied Bulldogs winger Mitch Brown a try.
The Broncos managed to get their air share of ball on the attack, but testament to their problems for much of the year, they took bad options and failed to captalise.
Josh Hoffman was taken from the field in the 23rd minute after the Broncos fullback copped a second knock on his left shoulder.
Josh Reynolds opened the scoring for the match and the Bulldogs after he cut back on the inside of the sliding Broncos defence.
After a hectic, and at times sloppy opening quarter by both sides, the away team opened up a handy 6-0 lead.
After a questionable penalty against Josh Morris for a shoulder charge, the Broncos used the extra set of six to cross via Corey Oates.
Prince missed the conversion as the score became 6-4.
Ben Barba came on in the 36th minute after suffering a week to forget off the field as he was dogged by claims he assaulted a woman earlier this season.
With just 15 seconds left in the half a 40-20 kick from Reynolds gave the Bulldogs one last chance to score.
But it mattered little as the away side led 6-4 at half-time in a tight and tense first 40 minutes of play.
In the 51st minute the Broncos grabbed the lead for the first time in the game when Jack Reed bashed his way across the line to make it 10-6.
Canterbury hit back after a break 70 metres further back downfield with Barba breaking through into the backfield before Krisnan Inu showed strength and presence of mind to cross in the corner to make the score 10-all.
Trent Hodgkinson then put the Bulldogs’ noses in front with a close-range field goal to give his side
the barest of margins with eight minutes left in the game.
Oates made it two for the game, and his eighth first grade try from just nine games, after scooping up a tap-back from Reed to see the home side snatch back by five, enough to see them finish their final game of the season in front at the sounding of the final siren.
The loss means the Dogs could finish as low as sixth with their opponent in the first round of the finals yet to be determined.
COMMENTS