Brisbane hope second-rower Brendan Piakura recovers from concussion to play South Sydney next week, but Kevin Walters has plenty of options if he needs them.
Piakura left the field early in the 20-10 round-one loss to Sydney Roosters in Las Vegas and did not return.
It threw the Broncos’ plans off-kilter, with star lock Pat Carrigan playing more time on an edge than Walters would have liked.
Piakura will be touch-and-go to recover for the March 14 clash with the Rabbitohs at Suncorp Stadium, given the 11-day mandatory stand-down for concussion.
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“That’s in the doctor’s hands now, but Brendan seemed pretty good post-game. He has travelled and seems fine,” Walters said when the team arrived back in Brisbane on Tuesday.
“He will go through the protocols that he needs for HIAs to be able to play.
“I thought that we did really well to stay as close as we did to the Roosters with the changes on the edge, given we moved one of our best middles (Carrigan).
“We will have a rethink about that from a coaching point of view and make sure we get it right in round two.”
The Broncos do have former St George Illawarra back-rower Jaiyden Hunt available, and giant forward Xavier Willison also boasts versatility.
“We are potentially looking at a reshuffle,” Walters said.
“Jaiyden Hunt can play there and Xavier has done some work there in the pre-season. There are lots of good options.
“We did miss Patty through the middle, but we were just a bit off in a few areas.
“Losing one of your key players early is never great, particularly to concussion.”
The Broncos were off the pace in attack at times against the Roosters, with errors at key moments proving costly, but they showed grit in defence on their tryline.
“I had a look at the game on the plane and it is never as bad as it seems and never as good as it seems,” Walters said.
“We will be right in a couple of weeks for Souths to bring out the best in our boys, particularly at Suncorp as well.
“The stadium we played at (in Las Vegas) was a brilliant place, but there’s no place like home.”
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