Michael Maguire shot down suggestions the Storm have an advantage over the Broncos heading into the Grand Final, given they have two days extra to prepare.
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The Broncos came back from 14-0 down to beat the Panthers 16-14 in a thriller, but the win would have taken it out of them heading into a shortened preparation.
But Maguire doesn’t believe his team will be disadvantaged or underprepared.
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“I reckon that’s a talking point that you guys will dance around, that’s a lot of garbage,” Maguire said.
“Players play on Wednesday, and they play on a Friday in our competition. We’ve got seven days to get ready, perfect.”
Maguire was proud of his players for coming back, but he told his players at half-time that they had the fitness to come over the top of the Panthers.
“The boys have been building this from day one since I’ve been here,” Maguire said.
“I just want to credit the players to stay solid to the path that we’ve been. I always believe, coming here, that this was an opportunity that we could create, so I’m just wrapped for the players.
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“We know that there’s one to go. It’s important now that we obviously recognise what they’ve done to this moment, but it’s using that now at the big game.”
Maguire credits the fitness of the team for helping instil the belief that they can come back as they have had to do twice in the finals series in wins over the Raiders and Panthers.
“It’s how the boys have been to be honest the last couple of months,” Maguire said.
“I guess the way I’ve seen them train over the year and then knowing that that’s inside them, that they can come home like that, and they’ve shown that.
“That’s the reasons why, I guess, a pre-season is the things that you do and the belief within the group, they showed that by what they’ve been doing the last month.
“We’ve been in positions like that today, and they’ve come solid at the back end, so it was good that they did it again.”
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Maguire was proud of his side’s goal line defence after they turned the Panthers away multiple times.
“Yeah, well, I think practising that for the nine months since I’ve been here, that’s one thing that we talked about, they’ve practised it over and over,” Maguire said.
“I mean, the hours and hours of time that you spend at training, practising that and that’s for these moments. And it’s nice to see the boys get the rewards off the back of that.
“We speak about it because you’ve got to find yourself against a team like Penrith that tend to score more tries than anyone down close to the line, so you’ve got to spend a lot of time being aware of what’s coming, but also, too, wanting to do the work.
“I just thought they were scramble to play was excellent. The times where I guess everyone feels that the teams probably can’t pull it off, but within this group at the moment, and I keep saying there’s a lot more in this team, I just think that the work that they’re doing, ingraining what they’ve been doing, there’s so much more in the group.
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“So that’s exciting obviously for me, because I’ve seen it before, but the fact that they’re buying in at a really high level and they’re the ones that have to do it, that’s a special part.”
Broncos skipper Adam Reynolds iced the match winning conversion to exercise the ghosts of Grand Final near misses in the past.
“Just process, something that I’ve been practising for a hell of a long time,” Reynolds said.
“I knew once we scored the try, I sort of had to separate the emotions from what was going on at the time.
“I mean, the crowd was amazing, they were so loud. It was good to just sit back and take that in, and then completely shut off from everything, and just focus about the kick.
“And it’s just process over and over and over again, been practising that since I was a little kid. Waterloo Oval back home down there, but replicated that in my mind a thousand times. To nail it tonight was a good feeling.”
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However, Reynolds denied he had put a few demons to bed with the kick.
“I wouldn’t say put to bed a few demons, I mean, you’d want those kicks over again for sure, but there are moments in your career that you learn from and certainly learnt from that,” Reynolds said.
“A few years ago I didn’t separate the emotion from the actual kick and something that’s been going over my head for a long time, if I ever got that opportunity again, they just shut off completely, and just focus on the basics, and making sure I’ve got good contact with the ball, and just go through my routine.
“I’ve done it over and over and over again and once you’ve got that trust and belief in it, there’s no reason why I shouldn’t kick it.”
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Reynolds was proud of his players for fighting to the death.
“It just shows that we can stay in the fight and get it done,” Reynolds said.
“I mean, it’s the belief from the moment Madge walked in the doors in November, he’s been instilling that in the group for a hell of a long time now and to buy into that and see it on the big stage, it’s a good feeling.
“We don’t want to be in those positions, but to have that belief that we know we can come back and get the job done, it’s pretty special.”
Reynolds os excited to get another chance at winning Grand Final for the Broncos, which is what he came to the club to do.
“It’s just another great opportunity, I play the game to win Grand Finals and as a club and as a team, that’s what we’re chasing,” Reynolds said.
“The opportunity’s in front of us now, and we’ve got to enjoy the week. Lucky that we’ve had a fair bit of experience in that arena, and we get to get back there and have another shot.”
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