Broncos content with "long-term" view after resting Origin stars

Brisbane Broncos assistant coach Matt Ballin says the club is content with the “long term view” they took with their Origin stars after resting them for last week’s loss in New Zealand against the Warriors.

Despite facing the prospect of losing their fourth straight game, Broncos coach Kevin Walters made the decision for Pat Carrigan, Payne Haas and Reece Walsh to sit out the clash with the Warriors – a clash they lost 32-16 to now be outside the top eight.

All three are set to return for the Broncos’ crucial grand final rematch against Penrith on Friday night.

But Ballin, who is also a Maroons assistant, said Walters wanted the trio to be fresh for the “important” part of the season.

“Kev’s pretty adamant that he wants them to play good footy at the end of the year when it’s really important,” he said on Breakfast SENQ.

“When they keep playing big minutes… they can come back and play another game with us and then be worn out at the end of the year, so we’re really aware of that and don’t want that to happen.

“We took the long-term view to rest them and it’s probably better for them physically and mentally as well and they’ll come back this week and hopefully give us a really big boost.”

After falling out of the top eight, Ballin said last year’s grand finalists were positive they could turn their season around.

“We’re well aware we need to turn things around ourselves, we can’t let other people dominate us in games and we’re doing everything possible at training at the moment with the players available to get them ready,” he said.

“Everyone’s staying really positive so it’s a really good sign within the club. “For some reason sometimes you’re just not playing great footy and at this point in time we’re not playing the best footy we can, we’re still making a few errors and still letting in a few tries but it’s not off the back of effort.

“I’d be really worried if I saw scores blowing out big time like the Warriors and Gold Coast game but we’ve had none of those.

“There’s really good signs with our players that they’re really doing all the effort parts of the game which mean they care and they’re still trying to get better… there’s still the want to win there.”

The Broncos host the Panthers at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night.