‘The big fella had a few tears’: Journeyman to make debut as Broncos lose key men for Bulldogs clash
The loss of two key stars has forced the Broncos to hand a debut to a forward who only moved to Brisbane a few weeks ago.
The Broncos have been dealt a double blow with Corey Jensen and Jesse Arthars ruled out of the side’s trip to Sydney to face the Bulldogs, with coach Michael Maguire backing the recalled Selwyn Cobbo to fire in his first game in a month.
Jensen (calf) and Arthars (rib) will miss Friday night’s clash, while veteran Ben Hunt is likely to return next week as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury.
It’s a blow for the Broncos who were already without Origin stars Payne Haas, Pat Carrigan, Reece Walsh and Gehamat Shibasaki for next week’s decider, but Maguire is confident his forward pack can get the job done.
Ben Talty will make his debut off the bench after starting the year playing with North Sydney in the NSW Cup, while journeyman Delouise Hoeter will start his first game since 2023.
“Ben Talty has come in here about a month ago and put his head down, and he’s going to be on the bench,” Maguire said.
“He reminded me about how special rugby league is. I was able to sit with him yesterday and talk about how he is going to debut.
“The big fella had a few tears and gave me a big squeeze. It gave me a real sense of what it really means to play NRL.
“He has been trying for a long time, so it just goes to show how special it is what our game brings.
“For ‘Della’ (Hoeter), he has been out for 12 months, so it’s another great story.”
Maguire backed Shibasaki to handle the pressure on his Origin debut, with the backline changes opening the door for Cobbo to return to the Broncos side for the first time since round 13.
Cobbo was dropped to reserve grade and has subsequently signed a one-year deal with the Dolphins after the Broncos were unable to offer him enough money to entice him to stay.
Maguire didn’t want to comment on Cobbo’s looming departure and backed him to take his opportunity at fullback.
“I’m not going to go into that. I stood here at the same thing last week talking about the same story. Selwyn is now focused on playing,” he said.
“We talk about players and how it’s hard to keep everyone. That’s what we’re working through.
“Selly is working through this year and we’ve got a great opportunity with where we are at the moment. The competition is well and truly alive.
“Selly has been good over the past month.
“As much as you talk about turbulent, we’ve worked through things and Selly is really focused on playing with his teammates.
“He’s in good form at the moment and trained really well just then, so he’s ready to go.”
