Less than a week after helping Queensland to an epic State of Origin series-deciding win, Brisbane representative forward Ben Hannant could lose his starting spot to aggressive young prop Josh McGuire.
For the second year running the bullish McGuire is making a bold bid to be in the Broncos front row for the looming NRL finals.
Performing strongly in the absence of Origin stars Hannant and Petero Civoniceva, the 22-year-old has put the heat on coach Anthony Griffin to give him his shot and it could come against the aggressive Warriors at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.
“He’s been our best prop for the last month,” conceded Griffin, who’ll settle on his squad after training on Tuesday.
“It’s a credit to Josh he’s put himself in this position.
“I think he’s played all but 20 minutes for us in the past three weeks in the front row.
“He’s carried us actually in the middle of the field without our Origin guys.”
Kiwi international Alex Glenn is favoured to vacate his back-row position to spend the next five or six weeks in the centres until English international Jack Reed returns from a broken leg.
Griffin’s centre options are plentiful, including playing Origin rookie Ben Te’o or another Queensland bench utility Matt Gillett in Reed’s role.
He could also opt to push Dale Copley into the centres with young rookie Lachlan Maranta, who’s been super impressive in his three NRL outings, on the wing.
“I’m not sure to be honest, well have another chat about it this afternoon (Monday) and look at our options again tomorrow,” Griffin told AAP.
“Glenn, Te’o and Gillett can all play out there, they’ve played a lot of first grade for us in the centres.
“But we’ve got Maranta there who could do a job on the wing and we could push (Dale) Copley in.”
Griffin said reports block-busting Warriors centre Konrad Hurrell, who tore the Titans apart with a hat-trick of tries on the weekend, was in grave doubt with a leg injury would not impact on his decision.
“Jack (Reed) could be out for four, six or seven weeks, so we’re not looking for a stop gap, it won’t be a left field job,” he said.”
Glenn, who’s been Brisbane’s defensive rock all season, said he hadn’t been told if he was the man to replace Reed.
“There could be a chance that I could slip in there because we do have a lot of back-rowers,” he said.
If Hurrell plays, Glen warned he would be a tough defensive assignment.
“He’s a very powerful man. I remember playing them earlier this year, he was on my side and I had to be very aggressive to stop him,” he said.
“I had pins and needles in my arm from tackling him.”