{"id":373431,"date":"2026-04-10T19:59:19","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T19:59:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/373431\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T19:59:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T19:59:19","slug":"brisbane-broncos-broncos-v-cowboys-queensland-derby-tom-duffy-jesse-arthars-blake-mozer-michael-maguire-nrl-season-2026-round-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/373431\/","title":{"rendered":"Brisbane Broncos, Broncos v Cowboys, Queensland derby, Tom Duffy, Jesse Arthars, Blake Mozer, Michael Maguire, NRL season 2026, Round 6"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Former Cowboys halfback Tom Duffy will make his Broncos debut in his first NRL appearance of the year, deputising for injured skipper Adam Reynolds in the derby against North Queensland.<\/p>\n<p>Reynolds suffered a groin injury in last week\u2019s match against the Titans \u2013 but had hoped to be fit to play and was named by the club to line up alongside Ezra Mam on \u2018Team List Tuesday\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>However, while he was able to run, kicking proved an issue, handing the Townsville Centrals Rugby League club junior his chance to impress against his former club.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n  &#13;<br \/>\n    &#13;<br \/>\n    <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Tom Duffy training with the Broncos.\" class=\"inline-image__image o-shadowed-box\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1v3a2454.jpg\"\/>&#13;<br \/>\n  &#13;<br \/>\n  &#13;<br \/>\n      Tom Duffy training with the Broncos.&#13;<br \/>\n        \u00a9Brisbane Broncos&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n  &#13;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTommy will get his opportunity,\u201d coach Michael Maguire said at the captains run media conference.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cReyno kicked the ball and felt it probably wasn&#8217;t right.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe did all the running. He was okay with that, but he just felt the kicking part was something that wasn&#8217;t where it needed to be. So we&#8217;re fortunate to have Tommy ready to go.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m really looking forward to seeing him get his opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s fitted in really well. He came in on day one, ripped into the pre-season and he&#8217;s earning everything he&#8217;s doing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe&#8217;s been able to sort of get himself around Reyno and Hunty [Ben Hunt] and those guys with experience and draw from that.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;re all excited for Tommy because he deserves it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With not only Reynolds, but also utility Hunt and fullback Reece Walsh, sidelined with injury, the Broncos have had to shuffle the backs and the spine, calling in more reinforcements for the derby clash.<\/p>\n<p>&#13;<br \/>\n  &#13;<br \/>\n    &#13;<br \/>\n    <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Tom Duffy playing for Souths Logan Magpies in the Hostplus Cup in 2026.\" class=\"inline-image__image o-shadowed-box\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/389a0410.jpg\"\/>&#13;<br \/>\n  &#13;<br \/>\n  &#13;<br \/>\n      Tom Duffy playing for Souths Logan Magpies in the Hostplus Cup in 2026.&#13;<br \/>\n        \u00a9QRL&#13;<br \/>\n&#13;<br \/>\n  &#13;<\/p>\n<p>Last week, Jesse Arthars made his first NRL appearance since Round 27 last year and stepped in at fullback after Walsh suffered a fracture cheekbone just before the halftime break and has been named to retain the role.<\/p>\n<p>Like Duffy, Arthars started the season playing in the Hostplus Cup with Souths Logan Magpies, as has hooker Blake Mozer, who has been named in 14 in place of Hunt.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s just selfless and a great man, Jess, he just fits in wherever,\u201d Maguire said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019ll go out and work his backside off for his team-mates.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;m very confident using Moze, he&#8217;s been very patient, but you&#8217;ve got to remember his career over the last two years has been hampered with a fair bit of injury along the way.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo sometimes you can&#8217;t get ahead as you like, but he&#8217;s been patient and he&#8217;s built his body up, so he&#8217;s in really good shape at the moment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLooking forward to getting him out there when the time&#8217;s right as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As for playing their third Queensland derby in as many weeks, Maguire said the match against the Cowboys remained a special rivalry and a chance to continue improving their game.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI&#8217;ve watched them for years, they&#8217;re always\u00a0great games,\u201d Maguire said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe&#8217;re pretty determined to keep building on what we&#8217;re doing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re not happy with everything we&#8217;re doing. We&#8217;re chasing different parts of what we need to be better at.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Cowboys halfback Tom Duffy will make his Broncos debut in his first NRL appearance of the year,&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373432,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":{"0":"post-373431","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-new-zealand","9":"tag-newzealand","10":"tag-nz","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373431","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=373431"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373431\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373431"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373431"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373431"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}