Brisbane skipper Sam Thaiday had his shirt ripped from his back as the Broncos showed their intent during an aggressive contact training session.
Team-mates showed their new captain scant respect, Thaiday finishing the bruising drill at the end of Thursday’s training with his shirt shredded and hanging from his waist.
“Hook (coach Anthony Griffin) is pretty big on the contact. If you don’t get it right here on the paddock, you won’t get it right in the game,” said forward Matt Gillett.
Gillett used the body-crunching session to test out his reconstructed shoulder with a number of high impact collisions with giant prop Petero Civoniceva.
He was confident his shoulder would come through Saturday’s heavyweight NRL trial with Melbourne in Hobart after teaming up as Civoniceva’s training partner during their injury rehab.
“He’s a big unit and he’s as hard as a rock. My shoulder has pulled up well after each session,” he said.
Griffin was keen for his players to rip into the physical work and their full-blooded hits were audible around the ground at Red Hill.
Civoniceva, who will make his his first appearance back at Brisbane after four seasons with Penrith, looks fitter than he’s been in several seasons following surgery on a torn pectoral muscle suffered in his last game for the Panthers last year.
Gillett, who is locked in a tight back-row battle with Alex Glenn and Ben Te’o, said Civoniceva had already made an impact on the young players who had tremendous respect for him.
“Petero is probably the nicest bloke I’ve ever met,” said Gillett.
“He’s always got a lot of time for everyone; even the fans, he’s always the last player to leave.
“He’s never rude, he’s so genuine and kind hearted. The players all respect him a lot.”
Melbourne have named a top-notch side with fullback Billy Slater returning from shoulder surgery along with hooker Cam Smith for the clash which Gillett says Brisbane is treating like an NRL game.
“We’re going to treat it as if it was a normal game with Melbourne naming a full strength side,” he said.
“It’s going to be a massive test for us and it will tell us where we are after some hard pre-season work.”
Gillett, the NRL’s rookie of the year in 2010, is being talked about as a State of Origin player for Queensland this year but he isn’t looking beyond being a permanent member of Brisbane’s 17-man squad.
“My goal is to play consistently well for the Broncos and if the rewards come from that, I’ll be more than happy to take them,” said Gillett.
“You’ve got to be playing well for your club first for those rewards to come.”