There was high drama in Ezra Mam’s rugby league return for Souths-Logan, with the star Brisbane playmaker put on report.
Mam, in his first tackle of the match, collected Western Clydesdales prop Lachlan Mears-Crabbe high at Davies Park.
He faces a nervous wait from the QRL match review committee as the Broncos sweat on his availability for Sunday’s clash with St George Illawarra
The 22-year-old scored a first-half try with a typically scything run.
Mam was a bit rusty, as was to be expected. His first cutout pass went high and through the hands of left winger Floyd Aubrey. Mam made one strong dart, but had the ball stripped before settling into his work with class and panache.
He was playing his first game back after a nine-week suspension by the NRL after he pleaded guilty to driving unlicensed and with drugs in his system when he had a head-on collision on October 18 last year.
Mam was playing on an oval and for a team very familiar to him. In 2021 he was Queensland Cup rookie of the year while playing for the Magpies when he scored two hat-tricks of tries, including one at Davies Park.
Sunday’s clash was his 19th Cup match for the club.
Mam’s return has come at just the right time for the Broncos in more ways than one. They are in the midst of a slump, with one win from their past five games.
Regular five-eighth Ben Hunt suffered a hamstring injury in the 22-14 loss to South Sydney on Friday night and is set to miss four to six weeks
Half Jock Madden, a back-up option, is set for surgery on a ruptured pec sustained in the Queensland Cup and is facing three months on the sidelines.
In a twist of fate, Mam played alongside former Broncos playmaker Anthony Milford.
Milford was a late withdrawal four years ago when Mam was called into the Magpies side to play CQ Capras for his Cup debut in Rockhampton, when he scored three tries and announced himself as a player of rare talent.
