Few players in the game have ever made 70 tackles in premiership history but that's the feat Broncos statisticians are convinced hooker Andrew McCullough achieved in Sunday's courageous 14-12 win over the Storm.
Although official statistics supplied by Prozone credit McCullough with 'only' 64 tackles against Melbourne, club performance analyst Scott Barker logged 70 'tackle involvements' for the Broncos' No.9 in what was a resilient team display against a patient Storm side.
Panthers lock forward Elijah Taylor set a new premiership tackling record when he made 77 tackles against the Cowboys in Round 5 this year – passing the previous mark of 75 held jointly by noted tackling tyros Nathan Hindmarsh and Shaun Fensom.
The competition's leading tackler through 15 rounds with 683, McCullough's official mark of 64 equals the Broncos record set by David Stagg but he was typically modest when he spoke about his effort after the game.
"I just knew we had to do plenty of defence," McCullough told Broncos TV. "You knew it was going to be up there, but it is just my job."
It is a job that often goes unrecognised outside the inner sanctum but one which teammates appreciate more than any other.
The Broncos were forced to make 118 more tackles against Melbourne – the equivalent of almost 20 sets of six – and lock forward Corey Parker said it was no surprise that the man they call 'Macca' was at the top of the list.
"I am not surprised by it, he has done a fantastic job for us this year," said Parker, who was rested from the game by coach Wayne Bennett.
"I guess if you look up at the defensive line and see a couple of front rowers and 'Macca' they are going to run at him, but true to form he brings them down every time and backs up and does another job.
"Darius Boyd had 16 tackles for the game; I don't know if he has done that in a year. It goes to show some of the defensive efforts by the guys."
