Brisbane halfback Peter Wallace accepts his chances of a NSW Origin recall might have been ended by a groin injury that forced him off the field against the Warriors on Saturday night.
Wallace, who last played Origin in 2009, went off late in the first half of the Broncos’s 30-20 NRL defeat in Auckland and will have a scan on Tuesday.
He says he’s not sure if the injury is the same one he picked up in training in April or in a different part of the groin.
Either way, he’s not optimistic of being fit to face premiers Manly next week or of being in contention for Origin selection.
“I don’t think so,” Wallace said.
“The side gets named next week so I think I’ll be out of that too.”
While that prospect was disappointing, he said it wasn’t as disappointing as the loss to the Warriors, which ended a six-match winning streak that had taken the Broncos to second on the table.
The Warriors, who had begun the round in 12th position, had to weather some heavy second-half pressure to gain their fourth win of the season.
They had hooker Nathan Friend produce a gutsy effort in playing all but five minutes of the match with a broken jaw.
In front of 19,012 fans, the biggest crowd at Mt Smart Stadium this year, they were up 24-10 at the break on the back of some mistake-free football, completing 17 or their first 18 sets.
Ben Henry got them on the board after five minutes, before Jack Reed and Alex Glenn replied for the Broncos.
However, tries to Shaun Johnson, Elijah Taylor and Jacob Lillyman tilted the momentum the Warriors’ way.
Broncos bench forward Ben Te’o crashed over early in the second half to reduce the arrears.
But Warriors back-rower Feleti Mateo effectively sealed victory with seven minutes, before Brisbane skipper Sam Thaiday grabbed a late consolation.
Broncos coach Anthony Griffin lamented his side’s concession of four tries in the opening spell, three of them in the 11 minutes before the break.
“We beat ourselves today in that first half,” he said.
While he gave credit to the Warriors’ defence, he said his own players didn’t attack as well as they could have as they tried to get back into the game.
“I think we just lost our composure a bit,” he said.
“If you give away 24 points in a half and you’re chasing points, that’s a chance to happen.”
Warriors coach Brian McClennan praised the character of his players, saying it was epitomised by the Friend’s heroics.
“He’s a real tough customer,” he said.
“There was a call that went out amongst the group that we have to take that hard edge on ourselves and play through those tough periods like he has.”
McClennan said Friend, who was taken to hospital for x-rays, refused to go off at halftime.
“He said, `I might not get to play a 40 for a few weeks’.”