After making his successful comeback from a meniscus tear, Broncos forward Brendan Piakura is out to build momentum in Friday night’s Battle of Brisbane.
Piakura missed the opening two rounds after injuring his knee during the pre-season but came off the bench in the upset win over the Storm in Round 3.
The Cook Islands international said it had been “a long-awaited journey” with his rehabilitation to return and that it was “good to be back”.
“I just wish I was out there with the boys,” Piakura said.
“Missing those games really hurt me and I thought I would be ready to play Round 1 … so (it was) a long-awaited journey with my rehab (and I am) pretty happy getting back on the field.
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“I came on just before half-time and the game was pretty fast.
“Coming into that second half, I just wanted to do my best for the team and try and get a roll on wherever I can, either if that’s in attack or defence.
“(I was) pretty happy with my performance, a good start.”
Distractions have come thick and fast Red Hill since the premiership triumph -including the shock departure this week of assistant coach Ben Te’o – but Piakura said the champions have a steely focus on the Dolphins.
‘The Cauldron’ has been the scene of some iconic moments between the two teams, with their rivalry cemented after Kotoni Staggs’ ‘this is our home’ celebration following his match-winning try in 2023.
This week, the Broncos face a tough challenge to claim their sixth victory in seven meetings, with a shoulder injury sidelining inaugural ‘Battle Medal’ winner Payne Haas.
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“Huge, huge loss,” Piakura said. “Everyone knows the calibre of player that Payne is and what he brings to the team.
“But we’ve got other boys that can fill into his role. Just next man up.
“It’s both our home fields are Suncorp, so we really want to make it our home too.
“I think all of us are going to be up for that game, especially Aubes (Tawha) being his old club.”
Broncos forward Ben Talty.
©Scott Davis / NRL Images
Fellow forward Ben Talty, who was one of only two players utilised by coach Michael Maguire from his six-player bench last week said defence would again be the key.
“We had a real focus on really going down there, having a steely effort with our defence, we’re very proud of that effort too,” Talty said.
“We really want to continue that effort into this week as well and as a team, we’re going to train really hard because we really want the same result.
“The Dolphins, they do have strong middle forwards, but that being said, they’ve got a strong team as a whole.
“Their back five as well, they get them going forward.
“We know we’re up for it this Friday and we really need to bring our ‘A game’ and we need to continue on from what we started in that second half against Melbourne.”