Broncos premiership-winner Karmichael Hunt has declared Tristan Sailor the man to reignite the club’s premiership tilt, as last year’s grand finalists plunge into an injury crisis.
Brisbane were already without star prop Payne Haas and halfback Adam Reynolds due to knee injuries for the 34-12 defeat to the Panthers, and the situation worsened when marquee fullback Reece Walsh was sidelined four minutes into the contest.
Walsh has been ruled out for up to six weeks, having suffered a facial fracture from a head collision with Taylan May, and it now appears certain Sailor will earn an NRL recall for next week’s derby with the Cowboys.
Hunt revealed Sailor had been put “in cotton wool” and withdrawn from Souths Logan’s Queensland Cup clash with Norths Devils on Saturday, and the Magpies coach was adamant the 25-year-old could help salvage the Broncos’ plagued start to the campaign.
“Tristan’s a really smart football player, he has all the athletic capacity that you need to be a game breaker, but the one thing that’s not as obvious as the tangible speed and acceleration is his footy IQ and smarts,” Hunt told this masthead.
“Whether it’s outside Adam or Jock [Madden] and Ezra [Mam], Tristan is going to really allow those ball players to play what’s in front of them, but also get his outside backs some extra space.
“He’s got a good sense of game flow and momentum, as well. When you have swings of momentum or are missing players like Payne Haas he can provide some nice metres out of yardage and swing set momentum with one run.
“I don’t think Tristan will be too bothered about external noise around pressure. He’s a very smart guy and will realise that although, yes, it’s the Cowboys, Friday night, a sold-out stadium, at the end of the day, it’s another footy game.”
Even upon Walsh’s eventual comeback, Hunt believed Sailor could hold a mortgage on a super sub role long-term – a notion strengthened by Brisbane coach Kevin Walters’ admission it was a mistake not to include an outside back on his interchange.
While he was unsure whether that would come at the expense of current No.14 Tyson Smoothy or one of the three forwards, the 2006 champion saw similarities in Sailor to what Kalyn Ponga produced while playing lock off the bench on his State of Origin debut.
“I think wherever you put Tristan on the field, when it comes to attack he’ll provide some threat running and passing the ball – he could definitely fill a role similar to Kalyn in his Origin debut,” Hunt said.
“If Kevvie were to shake up his bench policies and consider Tristan at 14 … he could well and truly do a job there.
“Defensively, he’s played in the front line before, in the Q Cup he played half for quite a few games and can handle the workload … and I don’t think he’d have any drama handling the ruck at dummy-half.”
The decision to retain Sailor has proven a crucial move, after the Broncos signed him to a two-year deal and rejected Super League advances to keep him on the books – advances his father, NRL legend Wendell Sailor, revealed on Brisbane radio he attempted to convince him to take.
“He had an opportunity to go to Leeds on a three-year deal, but he wanted to stay at the Broncos because he believes that he can tighten that 14th spot,” Wendell said.
“I said to him ... ‘Tris, if you want to, why don’t you go Super League for a year and then maybe come back? Because I’ve got to tell you, Reece Walsh and Selwyn Cobbo, you’re not going to get to go there son.’
“He said, ‘I feel real comfortable at the Broncos, and I’m going to back myself.’”
Sydney Morning Herald
