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Fensom in frame as Brisbane prepare for old foes
March 18, 2019
Veteran forward Shaun Fensom is set to make his Brisbane debut and Tevita Pangai jnr is in line for a starting spot as the Broncos prepare for a rampant Cowboys pack in Friday's Queensland derby.
With Matt Lodge suspended for two games, Pangai is likely to be elevated from the bench where he made 156 metres from 19 runs in the 22-12 loss to Melbourne last Thursday.
Fensom, who joined the club from the Cowboys in the pre-season, trained with the main squad on Tuesday in a sign the 30-year-old forward is to come onto the bench after playing for Souths-Logan in the Intrust Super Cup last weekend.
The Broncos struggled to handle Jesse Bromwich and Nelson Asofa-Solomona early in the loss to the Storm despite hanging tough to limit the damage on the scoreboard.
With an in-form Jason Taumalolo, who ran for 286m against the Dragons in round one, and a star-studded Cowboys pack on the horizon the Broncos will need Pangai and company to start with more fire and brimstone at Suncorp Stadium.
"We started poorly in our trial [against the Titans] and we started poorly against Melbourne and you can’t do that against good sides. This week will be no different," halfback Kodi Nikorima said.
"Shaun is an experienced player. He’s been at the Cowboys and Canberra. He’s been training really well and deserves an opportunity if it becomes his own.
"I thought Tevita was one of our best when he came on. Him and Tommy [Flegler] changed the game for us when they came on and started our sets off really well and got us on the front foot.
"With Tevita starting we’ll need that from the get-go. He’s had a fair few injuries in the pre-season and when he comes back from injury he tends to start slow but he was on fire for us against Melbourne."
The Cowboys came home with a wet sail in the last clash between the two sides in Townsville in 2018, in a 34-30 win, with coach Paul Green bringing Taumalolo and Jordan McLean back from the bench in the final quarter of the match.
This year Green will also have former Broncos star Josh McGuire, who had a strong debut for the Cowboys against the Dragons, running for 154m and making 29 tackles in a 63-minute display full of impact.
Broncos hooker Andrew McCullough said McGuire was "quite a character and very competitive" and was expecting his former teammate to play strongly against his old club, while not expecting too much over-the-top sledging.
"He’ll be sucking them in too much to be too worried about that," McCullough grinned.
"He’s got a job to do so if he gets caught up in that it will take away from what they are planning to do. It will be good if he does that."
The Broncos may yet play centre James Roberts against the Cowboys despite a back spasm limiting his game time to just five minutes against Melbourne.
Roberts trained on his own with high performance chief Paul Devlin on Tuesday and will be given until later in the week to prove his fitness.
If Roberts is ruled out Kotoni Staggs, who came off the bench against Melbourne, will start at right centre with Gehamat Shibasaki a likely bench replacement.
Source: NRL.com
