Sitting high on the ladder with little chance of suffering another late-season fade-out like the one that cost them a place in the finals last season, the Brisbane Broncos are daring to dream about a grand final appearance this year.
The Broncos currently sit just behind the Panthers on the ladder with a bye still up their sleeve, with forward Kobe Hetherington cautiously using the ‘g word’ for grand final when describing his role in the team before their Round 22 match-up against the Roosters on Thursday night.
“(I see my role) in that middle, just bringing energy off the bench and if I start, then starting hard too,” Hetherington said ahead of this 50th NRL game for the club.
“I have had a few starts this year, which is good.
“I'm just wherever Kevvy [coach Kevin Walters] wants me and whatever we can do to make the grand final, I'm happy to do it.”
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When pressed on what his side needed to do to make it to the premiership decider, which will be played at Accor Stadium this year, Hetherington said the side did not want to get too far ahead of themselves and were still focusing on getting the simple things right.
“It's sort of a hard one [to talk about how far the team can go into the finals]; at the moment we just want to go week by week and keep marching forward,” Hetherington said.
“But I guess every team, that's what they want to do, is make the grand final.
“So, if we can keep doing the little things well, and keep defending hard then, I think we've got a pretty good shot.”
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Hetherington made his debut in Round 11 in 2021, which was a tough year for the Broncos who finished the season in 14th place after recording just seven wins.
The club have turned things around in a big way in 2023, with Hetherington saying the tough times had helped steel the young team to improve.
“It was tough, but I was lucky enough to get a win on my debut and it was (a) tough (season), but all us boys, we all stuck together and now, we're building something pretty special here,” Hetherington said.
“We’ve got to keep marching forward towards the finals and hopefully get a few more wins.”
The work starts again for the Broncos this week against a Roosters side that need to win to keep their finals hopes alive.
The Tricolours misfiring attack sparked against Brisbane’s derby rivals the Titans last weekend with forwards Lindsay Collins and Jared Waerea-Hargreaves proving particularly damaging.
“It will be physical, (but) we have got a couple of Origin boys too, so it will be a good battle in the middle,” Hetherington, who started his career at hooker before moving to the second row said of the impending forwards showdown.
“That's sort of where games are won, so it should be a good game.”