Boyd in clear to kick off season

BRONCOS captain Darius Boyd has been cleared for takeoff.

Boyd will start at fullback in Brisbane’s NRL premiership season opener against the Dragons at Kogarah on Thursday week despite sitting out all of the club’s trials.

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

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

But Brisbane medical staff have given Boyd the green light to lead the Broncos in Round 1.

“He should be fine – we have gone pretty cautious there,” 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 final round match, a 20-10 away win over the Cowboys.

He missed the Broncos’ first two finals, courageously returning in the 30-0 preliminary final defeat to eventual premiers Melbourne in which he was clearly hampered.

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

Boyd, a veteran of 267 NRL games, was placed on modified

HE’S BEEN DOING EVERYTHING PRETTY MUCH FOR THE LAST THREE WEEKS

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.”