Sims puts jaw concerns aside to focus on Broncos' finals tilt

Korbin Sims says his jaw got a decent workout last week and erased any lingering self-doubt as he targets inspiring Brisbane towards a top-four berth.

The 26-year-old’s jaw was broken in a controversial tackle by Dylan Napa in the round 11 Telstra Premiership clash with the Roosters and he had surgery and a six-week break, sitting out three matches.

Sims returned last week in the 22-16 comeback win over Canberra and will be one of the more experienced forwards on show when the Broncos and Titans clash on the Gold Coast on Sunday without their Origin stars.

While his confidence was "a bit sketchy" going into the Raiders clash, Sims soon warmed to his task after a few jolts to the head.

"I think I got one across my chops my first run of the game and copped a fairly good knee to the other side [of the jaw] in one of the tackles, and it felt OK," Sims said.

"That builds confidence and at training, I am trying to build confidence day by day.

"Around training it did play on my mind the first couple of sessions I came back but once you get that first run of the ball and the first tackle under your belt you don’t think it about it too much. A couple of bumps in the game worried me a little bit but … it is a team sport so I put myself second."

Sims was determined to make an impact and nearly knocked himself out with one mega-effort against Canberra. He has sat out some contact aspects of training this week and revealed there was still some calcification of the bone, but nothing to impede him from playing.

"At the moment it is pretty much healed but from my last scan there was still some chipping in the jaw that needs to heal," he said.

"My surgeon is pretty confident it won’t get any worse hopefully. If I need to sit out one of the contact sessions through the week then so be it but I’ll be back in full training the next couple of weeks."

Sims has not played in an NRL final despite having 110 first-grade matches under his belt. The former Knight missed last year’s finals series with a broken arm and said he was hopeful of staying fit and healthy and playing a role in a late Brisbane surge up the ladder.

"I want to help this club go further into the finals. I am looking forward to the back end of the year when all the teams get their Origin players back and are at full strength. There are no excuses from then on in," he said.

"I don’t think we’ve hit our best football yet but we are definitely building towards something.

"As the ladder stands there is only [two] points between us sitting in eighth, and third.

"This week, and the following week [against the Warriors] with the Origin lads backing up will be the hardest games we will play."

Sims is expecting key forwards Jaydn Su'A (foot) and Tevita Pangai jnr (rib) to play against the Titans after they had a modified training program at Broncos training on Thursday.