A desperate Brisbane are set to turn to a teen star and former Manchester United prospect as their NRL season lurched into disaster territory following their 26-12 dismantling at the hands of Newcastle.
The Broncos had salted rubbed into their wounds at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday when winger Richie Kennar suffered a dislocated shoulder which could require a reconstruction.
The club’s outside back stocks are now getting dangerously low, a situations which will be compounded with Corey Oates to miss next Sunday’s clash with Cronulla because of Queensland State of Origin duty.
Coach Anthony Seibold is already without Jamayne Isaako (personal reasons) and Jack Bird (knee).
While James Roberts and Jordan Kahu were both granted releases this year.
With no other option, Seibold said he will likely next week hand debuts to exciting youngster Xavier Coates and Englishman Herbie Fansworth.
Coates, 18, was outstanding for Queensland in last month’s Under-20s State of Origin win over NSW, outshining some of the game’s brightest young stars, before making his Test debut with Papua New Guinea last weekend.
While Farnsworth, 19, was at one time contracted to English Premier League club Manchester United as a 10-year-old before choosing to focus his attentions on rugby league.
The Broncos’ loss to the Knights leaves them in the bottom four and needing to win seven of their last 10 to make the top eight.
If they miss the finals, it will be just the fifth time in the club’s history and the third time since 1991.
Asked if his side had underachieved this year, Seibold said: “When you’re lose games you underachieve.
“The reality of it is we had eight guys out there who played less than 25 games, they’re learning.
“I’m the head coach so I take responsibility for that. There’s plenty of effort from the players. If we didn’t have effort, we would have thrown in the white towel in the second half.”
Seibold confirmed he would persevere with his decision to move Anthony Milford to fullback and Darius Boyd to five-eighth.
Boyd had little impact at No.6 and came up with a bad missed tackle on Jesse Ramien which led directly to Mason Lino’s match-winning try.
Seibold said his side failed to adapt after losing Kennar, which resulted in back-rower David Fifita moving to centre.
“At the moment we just can’t handle any sort of chaos that occurs,” Seibold said.
“There’s a lot of effort but we’re not resilient enough individually or collectively. I’ll take the blame for that.
“We put some pressure on ourselves by a tackle four penalty, a tackle five penalty out of yardage.
“The playing group is learning.”