Brisbane lock Pat Carrigan is out of their preliminary final after the club decided it was not worth the risk to challenge his charge at the judiciary.
The Broncos have taken an early guilty plea for the grade-two dangerous tackle charge, resulting from Carrigan’s high shot on Canberra forward Morgan Smithies in the 29-28 win over the Raiders in the qualifying final.
Carrigan, who was sin-binned, will miss Sunday-week’s preliminary final at Suncorp Stadium against either Canterbury or Penrith but will be available for the grand final if the Broncos make it through.
It comes as another blow to the side after five-eighth Billy Walters suffered an ACL injury against Canberra.
Brisbane do have giant prop Xavier Willison available for the preliminary final after he was cleared to return from a broken forearm.
Broncos football boss Troy Thomson told AAP why the club decided a trip to the judiciary was not worth it.
“It’s just the risk involved,” Thomson said.
“We have reviewed the footage and got some advice from legal and other football contacts I have.
“Unfortunately there was shoulder contact with the head and we thought that being able to downgrade it to a grade one came with inherent risks, so we have taken the guilty plea.
“We are fortunate that we have a terrific squad and there is that next man up (mentality) to do the job.
“We have some troops coming back too with Willison being available. Brendan Piakura may be OK too. He is seeing a surgeon today so we will see how he goes.”
Back-rower Piakura suffered a suspected facial fracture against the Raiders.
Captain Adam Reynolds, five-eighth Ezra Mam and outside back Selwyn Cobbo all trained strongly on Monday morning in another boost for the Broncos.
All three injured hamstrings in the round-23 loss to Melbourne.
Brisbane have also entered an early guilty plea for fullback Reece Walsh after his controversial headbutt on Hudson Young.
Walsh, who was sin-binned, also received a contrary conduct charge on top of the striking charge after he “flipped the bird” at the crowd as he left the field.
Several pundits have suggested Walsh’s penalty for the headbutt should have been harsher but NRL CEO Andrew Abdo said he was comfortable with the punishment.
“This is something that’s reviewed by the match review committee,” Abdo said.
“They look at precedent and they look at the appropriateness of the conduct and on this particular occasion he was given a grade-one striking (charge), which is pretty consistent with what we saw through the season.
“Obviously we don’t like to see instances of this off the ball but they made their ruling and we’re very comfortable with it.”
Walsh will pay $4800 in fines for both misdemeanours.
‘Godfather’ offer Broncos diehard Cory Paix could not refuse
Loyal as the day is long, hooker Cory Paix received the contract offer from Brisbane he craved and accepted it within hours.
In reality it was ‘The Godfather’ offer Paix couldn’t refuse, but with a twist. It’s not as though the Broncos tabled him $1 million to re-sign for 2026. It was more about his own desire to stay at a club he never wanted to leave.
“That’s true,” his manager Paul Hogan chuckled, in response to the movie reference.
How Paix got the deal is a story in itself. The surprise exit of forward Kobe Hetherington to Manly next year on a four-year deal opened up cap space, but coach Michael Maguire had said all year he wanted to keep Paix, who has been with the club for 12 years.
It was just a matter of finding a way.
Hogan sat down for lunch with Brisbane recruitment boss Simon Scanlan last Wednesday.
Scanlan had recruited Toowoomba terrier Paix into the Broncos academy when he watched him play in a schoolboy carnival in Pittsworth when just 13. The meeting with Hogan was a “take it or leave it” affair.
“We agreed to it pretty well straight away,” Hogan told AAP.
“Simon emailed me the contract late Wednesday. I spoke to Cory, we accepted verbally and we signed it lunch time Thursday.
“It is a fair deal for one year and we will see what eventuates after that.
“Cory was in the Broncos academy at age 13 and signed his official contract when he was 15.
“Now that Madge (Maguire) is there and everything is going well, he wants to stay there.”
The contract lunch was hastily organised. Hogan was in the Broncos Leagues Club restaurant last week when Scanlan called and gave him three options. They could meet in the club, at a nearby coffee shop or the Newmarket Hotel.
Hogan chose the latter option, away from prying eyes.
The deal was done over an entree of Oysters Kilpatrick, on-special lamb chops for the main course and an Italian-style tiramisu for desert. A Tasmanian bottle of pinot noir topped it off and ensured the deal was done in style.
The 2025 season has reinvented Paix. He did not play NRL last year and there were offers to leave the club before his contract had expired.
This year he started the season at hooker, was moved to the bench, then dropped only to return as starting No.9. The Broncos have won each of the last nine games when Paix has started.
“We could have gone to three or four clubs in Sydney that were chasing him. Super League clubs were chasing him,” Hogan said.
“It was obvious that he never wanted to leave. He wanted to dig in and now the Broncos are one win away from a grand final.”
Hogan, a former stylish playmaker with Swifts in the Ipswich Rugby League and first grade rugby gun with Easts in Brisbane, has been a vocal and staunch advocate for workaholic Paix.
“He played 91 minutes against Canberra, made 48 tackles and missed one. That’s the official NRL stats. You can’t underestimate that,” Hogan said.
“You don’t always have to be scoring tries and setting them up. He has a role in the team and plays it to a tee.”
