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Bronco Pat Carrigan has established himself as one of the NRL's premier locks in recent seasons but he's adamant the number on his back means nothing when the heat is turned up in the engine room.

Heading into his seventh season at the top level, the 27-year-old is thriving under new coach Michael Maguire and is ready to do whatever it takes to return the Broncos to the top of the tree.

Carrigan regularly performs a link role with his ball-playing but has been happy to shift into the front row at representative level and said it was something he’d be willing to do for his club as well.

“We're just playing with a few things at the moment as a club, but I'll always put this club first and my teammates first and whatever position I have to play, it is what it is,” Carrigan said.

“I've played different positions last year too and the year before, whether it be anywhere in the middle, so it is what it is.

“(Playing prop) is obviously a different role in those [representative] teams where you get to play with a lot of really outstanding players, and there's a lot of outstanding players here too.

Pat Carrigan at Broncos training.
Pat Carrigan at Broncos training. ©Zak Simmonds / Brisbane Broncos

“I think Baz (assistant coach Trent Barrett), I've really enjoyed working with him so far on attack and he's going to keep encouraging me to play my game and play what I see ... I just want to keep working on things and play my brand of footy, and at the end of the day, whatever number you wear is just a number, right? So I'm not too.

“As long as I just fit into the team game plan.

“I'm probably not the most traditional forward as it is, I'm a little bit smaller and like to use a bit of the skill and that's something that Baz has encouraged me to do.

“I'm just excited to play with this group of boys.

"Payno’s (Haas) going to come back into the fray, even our backrowers, Jordy (Riki), young Brendy Piakura is another year older and Jack Gosiewski’s playing unreal too, so there's plenty of talent here and I'm just going to do what I do best, just compete and like I said, a number’s a number and I'm just going to play my brand of footy.”

What’s prompting the speculation about a potential positional move is the backing of coach Maguire of Kobe Hetherington, who has been vocal about his desire to lock in the starting 13 position.

“I think that's a Madge question for you, but Kobe's a fine talent that's more than capable of playing 13 at any other club in the NRL, so we're both competing for whatever spot it is in the forward pack,” Carrigan said.

Hetherington: I can play on the edge if needed

“The more we work hard and work with each other, the better we're both going to be.

"I love playing with him. He's a tough old fellow, reminds me of some of those old boys like you said, so I'm excited for what he's going to do this year because he's had a really good pre-season.

“There's a really good young group of forwards here; guys like Kobe, Xavier Willison, Fletcher Baker, Benny Te Kura, I'm sure I'm missing a few, but we're really competing for spots and they're keeping me hungry and making me feel a little bit older now, but it's exciting.”

Pat Carrigan and Payne Haas have been key performers up front for the Broncos.
Pat Carrigan and Payne Haas have been key performers up front for the Broncos. ©Chloe Davis / NRL Images

While Haas is currently training with the rehab crew following surgery to clean out his ankle, Carrigan was confident of seeing the enforcer in the field for the season opener against the Roosters.

“I think he's sweet, he just had a little bit of an ankle clean out I believe … had something floating around in there,” Brisbane’s 2024 player of the year said.

“The big fellow always keeps himself in pretty nice condition.

“He’s been back, he had that Lisfranc injury at the back end of last year and he pretty much rehabbed through his whole break and came back on November 1 with the boys and has been working his backside off with them since.

"In terms of him being prepared or ready for Round 1, I don't think he'll have any doubt that he'll be there.”

Match: Roosters v Broncos

Round 1 -

Roosters

home Team

Roosters

Broncos

away Team

Broncos

Venue: Allianz Stadium, Sydney

Match broadcasters:

  • WatchNRL

 

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