Captain Sam Thaiday says Josh Hoffman remains an important part of the Brisbane side despite Ben Barba’s move to the Broncos and has urged the disgruntled fullback to stay at Red Hill.

Hoffman has reportedly been put offside by the recruitment of Barba who is likely to fill his favoured No.1 jersey at the Broncos.

The Kiwi international has been linked to a move to Barba’s former club Canterbury but Thaiday says Hoffman, who remains contracted to Brisbane for 2014, is still very much a part of coach Anthony Griffin’s plans next year.

“Josh is a player that not just myself but all the Broncos players want in our side. We want him to hang around and hopefully he will,” Thaiday told AAP on Tuesday.

“Him and Benny Barba have been great mates for many, many years … they both grew up together in Mackay.

“I think what Josh learnt this year is he can play a great role for us on the wing and he can play a great role for us at fullback.

“And when he was playing wing for us, he was our best winger and, when he was playing fullback for us, he was our best fullback.”

World Cup-winning forward Thaiday, who will make his boxing debut on Saturday against giant Chiefs Super Rugby forward Ben Tameifuna in the Fight for Life charity event in Auckland, said Barba would bring a vital attacking edge to the Broncos next year.

“What Benny does is that he brings that X-factor to whatever team he plays with,” Thaiday said.

“We can’t always rely on players like Hodgo (Justin Hodges) and Josh Hoffman to continually show up every week. We have to share that lot around and show we are a great team with a lot of great talent.

“Benny will bring that extra bit of dynamic to our attack.

“And hopefully he will bring that great form he showed last year when he won the Dally M award because we have set ourselves some big goals this year.

“Last year was a really tough year for us. It was a really disappointing year. It just wasn’t good enough. We have changed things around with some new players, some new coaching staff and we are looking forward to a big year next year at the Broncos.”