That is the view of four-time premiership winner Steve Renouf who played at centre behind the unheralded forwards who won the 1992 and 1993 titles despite being derided as a "pop-gun pack".
Payne Haas, Brisbane's best forward of the last seven years, agreed that achieving the connection and impact those forwards had was crucial if the current side is to reverse a form slump, starting with the home clash on Sunday against St George Illawarra.
The Broncos have lost four of their last five games and an area of concern is that Haas and fellow prop Pat Carrigan, both averaging more than 180m per match, have been setting a benchmark that their teammates have not come close to attaining.
Haas rejects suggestions the Broncos forwards are a two-man band but in the premiership-winning years of the early 1990s that was never suggested.
The players had nicknames that tell you everything you need to know.
The rugby league world knows about The Axe, Lazo, Box, GG, Jed and Ryno for starters.
Translated, that was Trevor Gillmeister, Glenn Lazarus, Terry Matterson, Andrew Gee, Gavin Allen and Peter Ryan.
Throw in Alan Cann, Kerrod Walters and Mark Hohn and they were key members of a pack that won one or both of those early titles that defined what the Broncos stand for.
While all outstanding individual players, they were part of a collective that delivered during the season and then on the biggest stage. Incredibly they were derided at the time as a "pop-gun pack" for being small of stature on the whole. They were lion-hearts when it counted.
"They were all workers and they all knew their roles," Renouf told AAP.
"People talk about having the right balance in the spine, but we also had it in that pack.
"They all worked their arses off for each other. We had great workers like Hohn, Gee, Ryan, Gavin Allen, Gilly and Cann. They all ripped in.
"Terry Matterson was the ball-playing lock. He was like our third half. Lazo was the man. He led from the front and turned us around as a team to be honest."
Renouf said the formula for success for the current squad was simple."Some of the boys have just got to pull their fingers out," Renouf said.
"They have got to work together, grind out a tough win and do it by being persistent.
"Carrigan and Haas have been doing the job but we can't rely just on them."
Haas is a Lazarus fan and a history buff who said the 1990s trailblazers set the benchmark.
"I feel like it was just the connection of their group. That is what we are trying to build with each other here," Haas said.
He rejected the suggestion that he and Carrigan were carrying the side, despite a poor 22-14 loss to South Sydney last week when the Broncos were well in control.
"We are working hard as a pack to try and get the best out of each other. It is not just me and Patty," Haas said.
"We have got (lock) Kobe (Hetherington) and all these boys. It is not just us.
"We started well last week and got to 14-0 and came out (in the second half) a bit slack. It's all about our energy and attention to detail in games."
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