Off-contract utility Ben Te’o says if Brisbane put together 80 minutes against Wests Tigers on Friday night it will be “scary”.
The powerful back-rower, who’s negotiating his NRL future with the Broncos, believes the day Brisbane are switched on for the entire game, they’ll produce something special.
Two weeks ago in Perth the Broncos staged a marvellous second half comeback from 12-0 down to beat South Sydney 20-12.
Last Friday night they blew St George Illawarra away to lead 24-0 in the first 40 minutes only to be outscored 20-4 in the second half.
Put those halves together and Te’o, who is locked in a back-row battle with Matt Gillett, Alex Glenn and skipper Sam Thaiday, says “look out”.
“You hope it’s going to come because we’ve either been slow starters and come back strong or started strong and died off,” he said on Monday.
“When we put them together, it’s going to be scary.”
Te’o rates Friday night’s clash with his former team as a danger game for Brisbane given some of the criticism levelled at the Tigers in recent weeks, including rumours of a rift between captain Robbie Farah and Benji Marshall and claims their forwards are soft.
“They’ve had injuries with (Gareth) Ellis out and probably their best forward, Keith Galloway, sitting on the sidelines,” said Te’o.
“The worst thing players can be called is soft and Robbie (Farah) took offence to that so I’m sure they’ll be wanting to turn that around.”
The Tigers have just one win going into round six and are coming off a nightmare loss to Souths when they were beaten 17-16 in golden point after leading 16-4 with four minutes remaining.
Farah returns from suspension and will provide some much-needed creativity from dummy-half for the Tigers.
“We’re going to be very wary of how they come out this weekend. We have to be strong up the middle and make sure what happened in the second half against the Dragons doesn’t happen again,” Te’o said.
“It’s what makes this weekend so dangerous because we know their coach Tim Sheens will rev them up to prove everyone wrong.
“The Broncos don’t write off anyone, we respect all our opponents.”
Te’o was unable to provide an update on drawn out contract negotiations but says he’s keen to stay at the club.
“I haven’t put a time on it but usually the earlier it’s done the better,” he said.
“I’m sure the club will let me know if they think it’s affecting me and they want to get something done.”
Meanwhile he is enjoying his back-row battle which will only get tougher when Corey Parker (thumb) returns in a few weeks.
“We’ve got some of the best back-rowers in the competition in my opinion,” he said.
“Matt Gillett is playing well, Sam (Thaiday) is and Alex (Glenn) has been playing great for the last two years so it gives you a lot competition.”
