Brisbane captain Darius Boyd was happy to delay his own contract talks for teammates and is also willing to shift from fullback to the halves next season to boost the club’s NRL premiership prospects.
Boyd signed a new four-year deal reportedly worth around $750,000 a season on Thursday that should allow the 30-year-old to finish his NRL career at the club where it began 12 years ago.
The Broncos will add utility Jack Bird next season, but lose Ben Hunt in a switch that could be addressed by Boyd shifting to five-eighth.
Chasing the club’s first title since 2006, Boyd said he would happily make the move if required by his long-time coach Wayne Bennett.
“I always said I’d be open to it,” Boyd said.
“Fullback is my preferred position but I do like what you get to do and bring at five-eighth as well, so if that was an option I wouldn’t be against it.”
Broncos boss Paul White said Boyd’s unselfishness on and off the field has helped put the club in position to push for another title, following a grand final loss in 2015 and preliminary finals exit this year.
“Darius has shown plenty of leadership off the field in being able to support Wayne and myself by not pushing his contract so we could sign the other players and it’s no secret our captain is probably the last one to sign a deal,” White said.
“We gave Darius the best deal possible but there’s no doubt if he put himself into the open market he probably could’ve done a bit better.”
Boyd’s patience allowed Andrew McCullough, Anthony Milford, James Roberts, Josh McGuire, Corey Oates, Alex Glenn, Kodi Nikorima, Jordan Kahu and Joe Ofahengaue to all put pen to paper, while the Broncos also landed NSW utility Bird.
While the Broncos have lost a handful of talent to rival clubs, Boyd said their retention efforts would help deliver the ultimate goal.
“I think the club’s done a great job with the roster; it’s always hard to keep players and get players to the club,” the captain said.
“Premierships are what the Broncos have been great at over the years and we definitely want to get a couple more, especially while I’m here.”
Meanwhile White shot down the likelihood of luring out-of-favour Sydney Roosters half-back Mitchell Pearce to Red Hill but said the club would monitor the market during “silly season”.
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