Boyd set to lead Broncos in opener
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 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,” 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.”
Boyd’s 2017 finals campaign was cruelled by a hamstring injury suffered in Brisbane’s final round match against the North Queensland Cowboys.
He missed the Broncos’ first two finals, courageously returning 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.
Coach Wayne Bennett knocked back suggestions Boyd will be shifted from fullback.