Boyd ready to take Broncos reins again

RUGBY LEAGUE: Broncos captain Darius Boyd has been cleared for takeoff.

Boyd will start at fullback in Brisbane’s NRL premiership season-opener against the Dragons next Thursday despite sitting out all of the club’s trial matches.

The 30-year-old’s absence from Brisbane’s entire pre-season trial campaign raised questions about the Test and Origin star’s troublesome hamstring.

Boyd, signed with the Broncos until 2021, did not play in Papua New Guinea on Saturday in the Broncos’ final trial match against the Hunters.

However, Brisbane medical staff have given him the green light to lead the Broncos in Round 1.

“He should be fine, we have gone pretty cautious there,” Broncos high performance boss Jeremy Hickmans said.

“With what we’ve done over the last few weeks, he could have played on the weekend.

“We had the discussion but thought ‘does he really need to?’ There was a lot of travel and other things we did in PNG. It was a risk we didn’t need to take.

“With the fact he’s got a fair bit of experience, we thought we’d err on the side of caution. I’m sure he’s ready to go.”

Boyd’s 2017 finals campaign was cruelled by a hamstring injury suffered in Brisbane’s finalround match against the Cowboys.

He missed the Broncos’ first two finals and courageously returned in the heavy preliminary final defeat to eventual premiers Melbourne in which he was clearly hampered.

The injury caused Boyd to withdraw from Australia’s World Cup campaign and his pre-season was tracking strongly until a hiccup in January.

Boyd, a veteran of 267 NRL games, was placed on modified training and despite returning to full running three weeks ago, Broncos staff opted to rest him from their trial campaign.

Hickmans said while Boyd had been medically cleared to return, it would take time for him to regain confidence in his hamstring.

“He’s been doing everything pretty much for the last three weeks,” he said.

“For a period of time we will modify his running loads and look after him that way.

“He has been going really well. We’ve been taking him out of skills to do some specific running at times. We haven’t had any dramas or problems that way.

“The biggest thing for him now is that little bit of confidence. When he had that little tighten up a month ago it knocked his confidence a little bit.”

Boyd’s hamstring concerns prompted club legend Gorden Tallis to call for him to move to five-eighth to prolong his career.

Coach Wayne Bennett knocked back suggestions Boyd will be shifted from fullback, and the 28-Origin star will wear Brisbane’s No.1 jersey in Round 1 as he enters his second season as Broncos skipper.