Brisbane lock Pat Carrigan was inspired to honour the late Carl Webb and to step up in the absence of prop Payne Haas against North Queensland, and he did both
The representative forward won the inaugural Carl Webb Medal as player of the match in the 38-12 win over the Cowboys, a now perpetual award to acknowledge ferocious forward Webb’s contribution to both clubs in the wake of his sad passing in December last year from motor neurone disease (MND) at the age of 42.
“It means everything,” Carrigan said after the win at Suncorp Stadium.
“I was just a kid of six watching him play and I was lucky enough to spend some time with him at the back end of last year.
“He was massive for this club and to see his family and his kids here is special.”
Coach Kevin Walters had spoken to the players about the significance of the memorial clash at Suncorp Stadium.
“He knew him quite well and there's a lot of past Broncos players that knew him quite well too,” Carrigan said
“Kev’s big on making those sort of people proud and that’s what we wanted to do.”
Haas has won the last five player of the year awards at the Broncos and his four to six week absence with a knee injury means the rest of the forwards must step up. Carrigan said he needed to play his part, but had plenty of support from starting prop Corey Jensen and Fletcher Baker, along with bench forwards Kobe Hetherington and Xavier Willson.
“They were awesome,” Carrigan said.
“The damage Payne does to oppositions is massive. He’s got the ability to create things out of nothing so we’ve had to change some things.
“There's so many points of difference with some of these younger guys who are really stepping up for Payne. When he comes back, if we all hold that standard, it's going to be a really exciting time.”
Carrigan, Queensland’s starting lock, battled with NSW lock Isaah Yeo last week in the loss to Penrith.
On Friday night it was his Queensland teammate Reuben Cotter who lined up in the 13 jersey for the Cowboys
“There are some really quality 13s in this game, so I just want to keep being the best version of me for this team,” Carrigan said.
“I don't really think about (one-on-one) battles, but subconsciously you know that if you're half a per cent off then guys like Reuben, Isaah Yeo and (South Sydney’s) Cameron Murray are going to take advantage of it. So I have to make sure that I bring my best game every week.”
Next week the Broncos play away against Melbourne, who share the competition lead.
“We've got a challenging start in the first six to seven weeks against some really good teams, so we’ve got to keep improving ... and especially in the middle,” Carrigan said.
