Ezra Mam is already putting the pain of Brisbane’s NRL grand final loss behind him and is instead looking to the future—a future he believes that holds another bite of the cherry.
The Broncos’ young five-eighth was easily best on ground for the losing team in a heartbreaking 26-24 loss, running in three second-half tries to carry the underdogs into a scoreline supremacy… at least, for a little while.
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There was little Mam could do, however, as Nathan Cleary kicked up a gear with just 20 minutes to go and delivered a performance for the ages, pulling every string as the Panthers mounted a grand final comeback not seen since Melbourne battled through a 14-point deficit to their first title all the way back in 1999.
Heartbreak aside, Mam could only be spirited after the two-point loss.
“I’m very proud of the boys and what we did out there. We couldn’t capitalise on the opportunity that we had so we’ll let this hurt and we’ll be back for sure,” Mam said after the final match of the 2023 NRL season all wrapped up.
“We just couldn’t get the job done [this time]. We just switched off for a little 10-minute period and you can’t really do that against players like Nathan Cleary. He took full advantage of that.
“I’m very excited for next year because we have got something special happening at the Broncos and we are building. We took the hurt from last year [when they just missed finals] and put it into this year, and we just couldn’t get the job done in the end, so hopefully we can go one better next year.”
In particular, another go-around in the NRL means another 12 months for Mam to pick his halves partner Adam Reynolds’ brain. The veteran halfback has been teaching his 20-year-old playmaking partner since the moment he walked in the door at Red Hill, and Mam thinks he’s still got so much more to learn from the 274-game star.
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“I’m very excited for next season,” he said. “I’ve got Reyno here again and it’s only been two years now that I’ve been with him, so I’m keen to go another year with him and learn the trade off him.
“To be able to play with him and the boys we had in our team was a dream come true.”
