Scott Prince will be playing for the Brisbane Broncos next season after securing a release from the Gold Coast Titans.
Prince’s contract is for two years and its is an interesting signing by the Broncos because they have Peter Wallace and Corey Norman who play in the halves for them last season.
I’ve said a few times now that I think Prince is just about done. He looked terrible last season. The thing is, so did the Broncos halves pairing, so now the Broncos have three under performing halves in their squad.
I wouldn’t be surprised if they started out the season with Prince at halfback and Wallace at five-eighth. Norman is a handy player and he is still only 21, but I felt like he didn’t show a lot of the skill a five-eighth should have. He was like a lot of the Broncos youngsters, he has great utility value but that doesn’t really put him in that elite, starter category.
This looks from afar to be one of two things…
Either Prince come very cheap to the Broncos, they has the cap space to spend and there was no harm in bringing in an experienced player into what is a young side.
OR
The Broncos realized they are going into next season with a halves pairing that was terrible by the end of the 2012 season, and they panicked.
I’ve talked before on this web site about the way clubs recruit players and looking to make steps forwards rather than going sideways, or worst of all, going backwards. I’m very big of blooding young players in first grade if you feel like you have a problem rather than spending money on players who are on their last legs.
If the Broncos don’t feel as though they have the young halves in their junior development squads that could possibly step into first grade and do some sort of job, then they need to look at their junior development system. I see the recruitment of Scott Prince as problem for the club.
As for Prince, he will be happy to only have to move up the highway from the Gold Coast rather than heading over to Hull. Hull FC’s pursuit of Prince and before him Rangi Chase has been farcical The club has been so busy promising the fan base a big name signing that it has turned itself into a laughing stock at this point.
I came back to this article based on an office discussion (spurred by your Pearce article) and I have got to say, you are some kind of Nostradamus-level prophet.
Prince has been a disaster for the Broncs and I personally don’t care how cheap he might be. I think his presence in the team and the increasing fequency of his brain explosions is having a destructive effect.
I think that, depending on how we are travelling, after the end of July the Broncs need to “rip off the bandaid” and bring in some new blood from the U20’s or elsewhere in the squad.
Hehehe yeah I hit the nail on the head with this one!
It’s funny you brought this article up because I was thinking on the weekend that it’s probably time for the Broncos to bite the bullet and start trying out some of their juniors in the halves and see who might be ready to take over the halfback role full time next season.
Signing Prince has just put them back a year basically.