After being written off, rookie lock Patrick Carrigan believes Brisbane can become an NRL title dark horse if they seal a finals berth with victory over Canterbury on Saturday.
Carrigan, 21, may be in his debut season but he has seen enough to convince him the Broncos can achieve anything if unleashed in the NRL finals after they fought back from a woeful 2-6 season start.
“I guess we have been the underdogs all year, got written off a couple of times,” Carrigan said.
“But that camaraderie we are starting to develop will make us a dark horse in finals provided we get in but we have one more game to go.”
Seventh-placed Brisbane are all but assured of an NRL finals berth ahead of their regular-season finale against the Bulldogs in Sydney.
They will only be denied a top-eight finish if they suffer an upset loss and eighth-placed Cronulla play out an extra-time draw with ninth-placed Wests Tigers on Sunday.
While he tried not to get ahead of himself, Carrigan backed Brisbane to make a finals impact despite their glaring lack of playoff experience.
David Fifita, fellow forward Matt Lodge and key backs Jamayne Isaako and Kotoni Staggs only have one finals match to their name.
And forwards Carrigan, Payne Haas and Thomas Flegler have none.
Ahead of his second game in the starting side, Carrigan believed they would make up in youthful exuberance what they lacked in experience if they made the top eight cut.
“When you are young you play footy, have fun and enjoy each other’s company, go out and give your best,” he said.
“The start of the year was a bit tough but the way we have come into our last 10 games I really think we are starting to gel, everyone is starting to work out how we play our footy.
“Hopefully we get the win this weekend and roll into the finals and then we can do anything.”