Ezra Mam solely had three hours discover earlier than making his NRL debut final season — nevertheless it took him simply 70 minutes to change into a Broncos sensation.
Mam acquired his alternative when veteran halfback Adam Reynolds failed a health check the day of the Broncos’ Round 11 conflict with the Knights.
Mam was additionally carrying a niggle however handed his personal health check to stay out his lifelong dream of enjoying NRL for the Broncos.
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There was one slight drawback the 19-year-old needed to remedy first although.
“I had to go back to the hotel and ask one of the boys if they had spare boots because I didn’t take boots with me,” Mam recalled to foxsports.com.au.
The recreation was performed in Newcastle and a debut was the very last thing Mam anticipated, therefore why he left his boots at dwelling in Brisbane.
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Tesi Niu got here to the rescue with a spare pair and whether or not they fitted or not didn’t matter, Mam was about to change into an NRL participant.
Broncos group supervisor, Steve Walters, rapidly acquired on the cellphone to Mam’s dad, who flew down and arrived to McDonald Jones Stadium simply earlier than kick-off.
“I was trying to look for them during the warm-up, which you shouldn’t really do — you should focus on the game — and then right before kick-off I saw them in the corner,” Mam stated.
The younger playmaker had a couple of shaky moments however they had been overshadowed by his electrical operating recreation and instinctive fashion of play.
He completed the 36-12 win with two attempt assists, 4 deal with busts, two offloads, two linebreaks a linebreak help and 98 operating metres.
Mam’s defining second was when his left boot — effectively, technically it was Niu’s boot — chipped excessive for Corey Oates to attain within the seventieth minute.
The Broncos junior performed each recreation after his debut and have become coach Kevin Walters’ first-choice five-eighth… till the ultimate spherical.
Mam was dropped for the Broncos’ must-win recreation to make finals after a troublesome couple of weeks defensively.
However he stated he “didn’t take it too heart too much,” as a result of Walters wished him to make use of that as a chance to easily watch and be taught.
“It was a learning curve because the more games I played, the more of a toll it took on my body and defensive my reads were starting to get a bit poor and a bit of my attacking reads as well,” Mam stated.
“He (Walters) thought that sitting me out and getting my body right for the off-season and this coming season would be better and to try and take notes from someone that has played footy more consistently — do my reads off ‘Reyno’ and watch how he plays.
“I didn’t really think much of it, obviously the team comes first so I just took it as it came.”
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Mam has really been watching Reynolds for fairly a while and though he reckons the champion No.7 is a “pain” he’s additionally been in awe of his talent.
“He’s a mastermind. When he first came to the club we did an opposed session and when our side attacked we only scored one try but when his side attacked they scored seven out of 10 tries,” Mam stated.
“From that day I realised how smart he was and with all the stuff that he was telling me like where to put players, it all made sense when he was doing it on the field.
“I just watch how he plays because he plays so square and direct which is something I can take into account because I’m more of a running-style player.
“I need to take more responsibility for my edge and take the weight off his shoulders.
“Obviously I’m just easing into my career so I want to use my speed and agility to beat my opposition but that’s definitely someone I want to try and be like — to take control of a team.
“But that’s going to take time.”
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Reynolds is simply as keen on Mam… Even if he’s “becoming a bit of a pest,” Reynolds laughed whereas speaking to foxsports.com.au.
“He’s a lot tougher than people probably know as a player,” he added.
“He’s only a small body and at such a young age how he takes on the line and absorbs that contact from the bigger boys running at him — he doesn’t shy away from that contact.
“He’s always willing to learn, asking questions and just cares about players around him as well which is such a great quality for such a young man.”
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Mam is about to dive into his second NRL season, which suggests the ‘second-year syndrome’ curse is sure to be thrown round at some stage.
He’s solely acquired 13 video games underneath his belt however he’s heading into this season “even more confident” understanding he’s already proven he can match it with the large boys.
He stated he likes to “block out all of the outside noise,” which is strictly Reynolds might be advising him to do — even when he doesn’t imagine within the curse.
“It’s such a myth that second-year syndrome stuff,” Reynolds stated.
“You hear it every year, one of the young fellas has a great year and then there’s always that question — will he have second-year syndrome? I suppose the more you read into it the more you believe it.
“As a young fella I think (Mam) just (needs to) stay out of the papers, not listen to the outside influences, don’t listen to all the hype that you’re going to get, stay grounded and stay humble.
“If you do that you tick all those boxes and come game day you’ll be fine.”
Source web site: www.foxsports.com.au
