{"id":357992,"date":"2026-04-01T04:51:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-01T04:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/357992\/"},"modified":"2026-04-01T04:51:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T04:51:16","slug":"broncos-sign-19-year-old-phenom-to-multi-year-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/357992\/","title":{"rendered":"Broncos sign 19-year-old phenom to multi-year deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Brisbane Broncos<\/a> have secured one of their most exciting young prospects, with outside back Antonio Verhoeven<\/a> putting pen to paper on a three-year deal that keeps him at Red Hill until the end of 2029.<\/p>\n

The story of how he got there is one worth telling.<\/p>\n

It begins on a tournament field in 2024, where Verhoeven was playing for his school at the Condor Sevens,\u00a0unaware that Broncos scouts had already taken notice.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What followed was a leap of faith: a relocation to Australia<\/a>, completing year 12 at Palm Beach Currumbin, determined to work within the Broncos Academy system.<\/p>\n

The rewards came quickly. In 2025, Verhoeven was a driving force in the Burleigh Bears’ Mal Meninga Cup<\/a> triumph over the Redcliffe Dolphins<\/a>, and his performances across that season were impossible to ignore.<\/p>\n

A call-up to the Australian Schoolboys side followed, sending him to Papua New Guinea<\/a> to face the Junior Kumuls on the international stage.<\/p>\n

Verhoeven is currently on the top 30 roster for the Brisbane Broncos<\/a> and trained alongside the NRL<\/a> squad in the pre-season.<\/p>\n

The Kiwi prospect stepped into Hostplus Cup football with the Wynnum-Manly Seagulls and hit the ground running.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Three games into this season, the numbers are eye-catching: four tries, 14 tackle breaks, five line breaks and nearly 110 run metres per game.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, Verhoeven’s name was thrown in the Mitchell Barnett swap talks if the veteran was to arrive at the club this season.<\/p>\n

Now, the 19-year-old is aware that the contract is more than a signature; it’s the start of a longer road.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s a great opportunity to stay with the Club, and I’m really grateful for the support the Broncos have given me to help my career,\u201d Verhoven said in the Broncos statement.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting to know and being amongst the squad this year has really helped me, and I will continue to learn from them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI’m hoping to play NRL<\/a> in the future, so I’ll keep ticking boxes and working hard towards that goal.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

He is on the end of the interchange bench for the Broncos against the Gold Coast Titans<\/a> this weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Brisbane Broncos have secured one of their most exciting young prospects, with outside back Antonio Verhoeven putting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":357993,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-357992","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357992","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=357992"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/357992\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/357993"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=357992"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=357992"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=357992"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}