\u201cHe\u2019s reaping the rewards, he\u2019s tightened a few things off the field around preparation, and he\u2019s absolutely killing it \u2013 I couldn\u2019t be prouder of him.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe came here through a mate of mine who\u2019s a manager, and I\u2019m super excited seeing how he\u2019s going, and he\u2019s playing some fantastic football.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Karapani earned his NRL recall, Burt was still flushed with options, as Deine Mariner and Jesse Arthars also donned the purple and white colours in 2025.<\/p>\n
Arthars has been named as the Broncos\u2019 18th man for their preliminary final battle with the Panthers on Sunday, while Mariner has been dealt the task of opposing Penrith star Brian To\u2019o.<\/p>\n
While Mariner has featured for Brisbane 17 times this year, he found himself on the outer twice this season \u2013 demoted following the heavy round 13 loss to Manly, having been initially down the pecking order behind Arthars, Selwyn Cobbo, Gehamat Shibasaki and Kotoni Staggs.<\/p>\n
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But the Kiwi prospect\u2019s comeback in round 22 has triggered some of the best form of his career \u2013 scoring six tries while making seven linebreaks and averaging 164.57 metres a game from those seven encounters.<\/p>\n
His and Karapani\u2019s exploits have kept both Queensland Maroons squad members Cobbo and Arthars \u2013 the last wingers to feature in a Brisbane decider \u2013 out of the Broncos\u2019 most important fight.<\/p>\n
\u201cTheir attitude was just fantastic \u2013 they bought into the playing group, bought into what we were doing, and they\u2019re still supporting us now,\u201d Burt said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re still getting text messages from them wishing the boys all the best. We knew Deino was just coming back to get some form back, and he bought in and scored some unbelievable tries for us.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut he needs to be playing Sunday afternoon for the Broncs.\u201d<\/p>\n