Pat's mantra: Keep each other honest and keep working hard

Keep calm and work hard is the mantra driving Patrick Carrigan and his Broncos teammates in their mission to become a consistent, seemingly unstoppable force in 2026.

It’s a mantle not far removed from that the Panthers built in their four-year premiership run and rebuilt in 2025, right up to the preliminary final when the Broncos and a boisterous crowd ended their season.

Carrigan does not expect vengeance to be driving his opposition come Friday night, knowing natural competitiveness and focus to succeed is enough to motivate international teammates Nathan Cleary, Dylan Edwards and Lindsay Smith.

But to deal with the inevitable onslaught from the Panthers and the other 15 challengers, the 28-year-old is clear on what needs to happen to avoid a World Club Challenge scenario where his side is chasing the game.

“I think the calmer that I can be for the group, the calmer we can all be, and it’s no word of a lie we like to attack the games early and sometimes we can be our own worst enemy with some errors,” Carrigan said.

“We’re just continuing to build combinations and the quicker we can get in a rhythm, the harder we are to stop.”

The advantage the Broncos have this year is consistency in coaching, a major proportion of on-field personnel and already a meaningful, full-strength hit-out reminding them where they need to be better.

“I think that’s the most exciting thing for us. We’re definitely starting at a base that’s higher to what we started at last year,” Carrigan said.

“We need to just keep each other honest and keep working hard and ticking the little boxes to make sure we’re playing the standard of footy we’re proud of and our fans are proud of and most importantly is getting us two points.

“It is exciting, we’ve got a core group that can stay together and obviously got a last ride for guys like ‘Reyno’ and ‘Payno’ has added extra motivation.”

Some individuals have even more motivation to do their part, including Jack Gosiewski, who watched the grand final win from the sidelines after a collarbone fracture late in the 2025 season.

The 31-year-old back-rower believed the small efforts coach Michael Maguire loved would make all the difference with every team “trying to pick us off”.

“The (Panthers) are obviously one of the best teams in the comp and they have been for a long period of time, but I think our own worst enemy is always ourselves at the moment, so we just want to complete our sets, kick them into the corners and give us a chance to win the game,” Gosiewski said.

"It’s going to be a good game, we’re going to have to make sure we’re defending really well, defending kicks well – we let in a few in the World Club Challenge off kicks – so the defence has got to be on to give us a chance.

“I played against the Broncos for a few different clubs and it’s always a big occasion against the Broncos, so you’ve got to expect that teams are coming out to get you, especially at Suncorp.

“If you don’t play here every week, it’s one of the better games of the year to come to Suncorp and play footy here, so we’re going to have to be on every week, especially our home games.”