‘Few tears': Journeyman to debut
Jensen (calf) and Arthars (rib) will miss Friday night's clash, while veteran Ben Hunt is likely to return next week as he continues to recover from a hamstring injury.
It's a blow for the Broncos who were already without Origin stars Payne Haas, Pat Carrigan, Reece Walsh and Gehamat Shibasaki for next week's decider, but Maguire is confident his forward pack can get the job done.
Ben Talty will make his debut off the bench after starting the year playing with North Sydney in the NSW Cup, while journeyman Delouise Hoeter will start his first game since 2023. Ben Talty will make his Broncos debut just weeks after he made the move to Brisbane. NRL Photos Credit: The Courier-Mail
'Ben Talty has come in here about a month ago and put his head down, and he's going to be on the bench,' Maguire said.
'He reminded me about how special rugby league is. I was able to sit with him yesterday and talk about how he is going to debut.
'The big fella had a few tears and gave me a big squeeze. It gave me a real sense of what it really means to play NRL.
'He has been trying for a long time, so it just goes to show how special it is what our game brings.
'For 'Della' (Hoeter), he has been out for 12 months, so it's another great story.'
Maguire backed Shibasaki to handle the pressure on his Origin debut, with the backline changes opening the door for Cobbo to return to the Broncos side for the first time since round 13. Selwyn Cobbo is back in the Broncos side just a week after he signed with the Dolphins. NRL photos Credit: Supplied
Cobbo was dropped to reserve grade and has subsequently signed a one-year deal with the Dolphins after the Broncos were unable to offer him enough money to entice him to stay.
Maguire didn't want to comment on Cobbo's looming departure and backed him to take his opportunity at fullback.
'I'm not going to go into that. I stood here at the same thing last week talking about the same story. Selwyn is now focused on playing,' he said.
'We talk about players and how it's hard to keep everyone. That's what we're working through.
'Selly is working through this year and we've got a great opportunity with where we are at the moment. The competition is well and truly alive.
'Selly has been good over the past month.
'As much as you talk about turbulent, we've worked through things and Selly is really focused on playing with his teammates.
'He's in good form at the moment and trained really well just then, so he's ready to go.'
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For Canterbury, the loss left more questions than answers about their halves after Burton was shifted to the centres with Stephen Crichton and Jacob Kiraz in NSW camp. Galvin and Sexton played on both sides of the ruck, but the Bulldogs were constantly guilty of pushing too many passes and searching for points. Several balls also went down on Galvin's left edge, as he and Burton struggled to find cohesiveness down that side. "We were trying to land knockout punches when we got some good ball," coach Cameron Ciraldo said. "The Broncos were defending well, and I think we just got frustrated and handed the ball over way too cheaply. "We were trying to force it too much." Ezra Mam has engineered a Brisbane comeback for the ages, keeping the Broncos in the race for the NRL top four with a 22-18 win over Canterbury. On a Friday night when the Bulldogs' halves picture grew even murkier, Brisbane scored four tries in the final 20 minutes to win the game after trailing 18-0. 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