The Broncos boarded their plane for the USA on Wednesday with their passports not the only important luggage packed away for their trip.
Speaking after the club’s final training run before departure, forward Jordan Riki shared how the team had watched final 20 minutes of last year’s grand final together during their pre-season to take onboard the lessons from that match which they will carry with them into the 2024 season.
“The end of last year still kills us and we've still got that burning fire, so we definitely want to go over there and prove a point,” Riki said of the team’s Round 1 fixture against the Roosters.
“We're all excited about the situation and what's going on with us playing over there, but the main goal for us is to get those two points, that's the bigger picture for us.
Match: Roosters v Broncos
Round 1 -
home Team
Roosters
6th Position
away Team
Broncos
12th Position
Venue: Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas
“(Watching the final back was) gut wrenching.
“I've never really felt heartbreak like that before. It genuinely was one of those things that makes your heart feel sick.
“(But) for us to sit down as a team, I thought it was quite a bit of a healing session for us to go through it and watch it.
“Obviously, it hurt every single one of us in the room, but it was definitely like a healing situation for the team. It just made us want to go out there and train harder and play even harder.
“I know that we definitely have got the team to do it.
“We proved ourselves last year and I know that we're willing to do that again.
“We've got such exciting players in our team, individually, we've all got jobs, but together, we can pull off some amazing stuff as we've proved before.
“We went away from Broncos-style footy (in the grand final) and that's exciting footy, but then also, turning up for each other on defence as well, and we did go away from that in the last 20 minutes of the grand final.
“Unfortunately, that hurt us in the long run but, we're willing to do everything and do what it takes to get back there.”
Despite some sobering lessons, there is no denying the excitement around their trip which will culminate in the Broncos meeting the Roosters in the second game of the March 2 (local time) double header at Allegiant stadium.
Speaking from the Brisbane International Airport departures area before flying out, Broncos hooker Billy Walters said the players were looking forward to soaking in the opportunity, but knew they had a job to do.
“I can't wait to get over there and experience the whole American life … but we're over there to do a job as well at the same time, so we don't want to get carried away too much with the off-field stuff,” Walters said.
“We want to focus on our jobs and what we have to do and to beat the Roosters.
“I think when it's time to train, you have got to be switched on and obviously when you're not training, it's alright to have a good time and let your hair down a little bit, which is what we'll be doing back in Australia.
“I think it's just making sure that when, when we're in meetings or when we're, when we're training on the field.
“The little time we have to prepare for Round 1, we have got to make sure that we're switched on and we're using every minute to the best of our ability and just make sure your head’s in the right spot when we're training and then when it's not; being smart, making smart choices and just relaxing.”
