Incoming coach Ivan Henjak has pinned his faith in Brisbane’s youngest ever backline to launch his senior coaching career with a win against North Queensland at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.
Wingers Antonio Winterstein, 20 and 19 year-old Jharal Yow Yeh and Alex Glenn, 20, are set to start for Brisbane against a classy Cowboys outfit in front of a crowd of more than 40,000.
“It’s exciting and I’m really looking forward to those young players testing themselves against quality opposition,” said Henjak.
“It’s an exciting time for the club over the next few years to see these young through and hopefully make their mark at the Broncos.”
“We’ve got very high standards here and whoever pulls on a Broncos jersey is expected to perform well.”
Henjak, who has replaced foundation coach Wayne Bennett, showed he was not frightened to reward young players by naming the young trio in his “junior” backline.
Auckland born Glenn, 20, will debut in the centres alongside boom buy Israel Folau, still only 19, with Steve Michaels (wrist) in some doubt and comeback centre Mick DeVere ruled out with a hamstring strain.
Fullback Karmichael Hunt has played over 100 NRL games, 11 Tests and seven Origins for Queensland but is still only 22 while halfback Peter Wallace, who made his Origin debut for NSW last year, is 23.
Thirty-one year-old skipper Darren Lockyer pushes the average age of Brisbane’s backline out to 22.
Winterstein played 20 games for the Roosters in the under 20 competition last season scoring eight tries, including a double against Brisbane.
He was lured back to the Broncos with an invite to train with the club during the pre-season.
“We didn’t know too much about Antonio before he came here but he’s had a wonderful pre-season and done everything right and deserves his place,” said Henjak.
“I hadn’t seen him before he came here but I’d had some good reports about him.
“From the first day he came here to now, there’s been an amazing transformation.
“All the players have been impressed with him and they’re really confident playing with him which is a big thing for a young kid to know that.”
Winterstein was excited about the opportunity.
“Playing with Darren Lockyer and Israel Folau makes you want to step up to the next level,” he said.
Henjak took the pressure off Winterstein, Yow Yeh and Glenn by declaring their futures would not hinge on one performance.
“We’re not going to judge them on one game,” he said.
Henjak said Brisbane probably had made more player changes than any other NRL club.
“There are some rookies there and a lot of new faces to the Broncos team,” he said.
“It’s probably the biggest turnover (of players) in the comp this year with the amount of players making there debuts, it’s an exciting time.”
The Cowboys, who also have a new coach in Neil Henry, named a red hot side for the clash which included attacking trumps Johnathan Thurston and fullback Matt Bowen and a powerful forward pack led by Carl Webb and new signing Antonio Kaufusi.
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