Brisbane Broncos captain Adam Reynolds is counting on the club’s young guns to step up and fill the void set to be left by Kurt Capewell’s move to the Warriors.
Capewell still had a season to run on his contract, but this week joined Thomas Flegler and Keenan Palasia as forwards who have left Red Hill for 2024, with Reynolds saying that while his departure would be felt, he had confidence that the next crop of talent could make his position their own.
“It's a huge impact on the club, he's a senior player here,” said Reynolds, who is looking to extend his time with the club beyond 2024.
“He obviously came in at the same time as I did, he does such a wonderful job on the field, but I think it's the part off the field that you get most value out of Kurt.
“His professionalism in-and-around training, the standards he sets; he was a big part of this club and why we got some success last year and obviously there's going to be a bit of a hole there.
“But I am excited for these young boys to step up and take a bit of ownership and really grow as a person.
“We've seen in the past younger players get an opportunity and they do well.
“It’s just about making sure that we get the processes right at training and everyone's comfortable with who comes in to that position, but everyone's got a role to play.
“There's blokes who will come through and excel and they'll grow in that role as well.”
This past season has already seen players take their development to the next level, in particular Jordan Riki who has made the right edge his own and Brendan Piakura, with both backrowers recently signing extensions with the club until 2027.
However, despite the arrival of Fletcher Baker who can also play in the second row, the question of depth remains.
“There's always questions around, we lost a few players the year before as well and handled that pretty well,” Reynolds said.
“No doubt we've lost some quality players in the team, but like I said before, it's exciting times for younger boys coming through.
“Brendan Piakura obviously is one that comes to mind; he only had a handful of games last year, and he played really well, took his opportunities and got a spot in the grand final.
“Other boys will be the same this year. Younger fellas get an opportunity and they'll impress, they'll be hungry to get out there and do a job and we might get a few surprises as well … it’s pretty evident that the Broncos always produce young fellas who are coming through and there's always a load of talent there.”
However, Reynolds, who returned to training five kilograms lighter after doing plenty of “old school road runs”, admitted it would take plenty of work to get those emerging players up to speed with their required roles for the team.
“It's about making sure that we get the systems right and we make sure that they're comfortable in their position to do the best job they can do possible,” Reynolds said.
“We've seen evidence of that last year, Brendan Piakura, Deine Mariner and Xavier Willison before he got injured, so there's a number of these young fellas who have stepped up and have taken the opportunity and this year will be no different.
“Everyone's got their strengths and weaknesses, some do things better than others.
“It's about playing to their strengths and we’ll get that through repetition of training.
“It's just repetition, the more you do at training, the more comfortable you're going to become with each other and it's about putting in the work at training, making sure you tick those reps off and get comfortable with the players in the squad.
“And that's why we do pre-season. We put hours and hours into working hard alongside each other so you're familiar with each other's game and the different attributes of different players, you have just got to accompany each other.”
