Brisbane Broncos should play for their future, not reflect on the past, to return to NRL's peak

Brisbane begin another NRL season on Friday night against South Sydney and the machine is already rolling.

Training sessions have been live tweeted in breathless detail. Up-and-coming rookies have been compared to all-time greats. Their first game will be in prime time because that is where the Broncos live.

Former club legends have been consulted on their view of Kevin Walters' side, what they'll do this year, how they'll go and why. Superstars who are not off-contract for many, many months have been linked to the club on the off-chance they will be the magic signing that makes it 1992 all over again.

Whenever anyone talks about the Broncos, they talk about the past a lot. That's fair enough – it's a very impressive past, after all, and it doesn't feel that far gone because the Broncos glory days were all on TV, live and in colour, and that means they stick faster in our memories. Wayne Bennett, the ruler of the original Brisbane empire, is still around and is still one of the great powers in rugby league.

But that won't last forever. The past is already written and the ink is already dry and one day, all those moments the Broncos faithful hold so dear and those wonderful games and seasons that made them the modern pride of the league will just be memories.

Since 2000, Brisbane have won two premierships and played in another grand final – a return many clubs would kill for, but not an exceptional one.

Soon, there will be Broncos players who were not alive when the club won their last premiership. Already there will be players who don't remember the 15-8 triumph over Melbourne in 2006.

For say, a 21-year-old, their entire rugby league life has not been dominated by Broncos exceptionalism, but by the Storm and the Roosters and,