Desperate times may call for desperate measures at Brisbane after Sam Thaiday again put his hand up to be Broncos fill-in hooker, despite his NRL first-round debacle.
Even Wayne Bennett couldn’t help but joke that Thaiday wouldn’t be considered for the vacant rake role after classy No.9 Andrew McCullough suffered a serious elbow injury in their 34-20 loss to Melbourne.
“I have no idea (who will be next hooker)…(but) I don’t think Sam will be going back,” Bennett said.
Bennett was referring to Thaiday’s woeful dummy-half stint in their season-opening loss to St George Illawarra, a move the Broncos coach admitted at the time was a “mistake”.
But Thaiday remains undeterred before Thursday’s NRL clash with South Sydney, saying he was available “just in case”.
McCullough could be sidelined for up to six weeks.
Thaiday admits Kangaroos forward Josh McGuire is the hot tip after finishing the match against Melbourne at dummy-half and also playing a Test for Samoa at rake.
“I am happy to pass the baton on…but in saying that I am there just in case,” Thaiday said.
“I wasn’t overly ready to play dummy-half at the start of the year and I hadn’t done any training throughout the pre-season in that position.
“There’s a couple of guys who played there, we’ve got a couple of options.
“We will work out what is the best fit.”
Thaiday’s money was on McGuire to wear No.9 after filling the bulk of the role at training on Monday but did not rule out utility Kodi Nikorima.
“Moose (McGuire) did most of it (dummy-half training) out there today so we’ve got him,” he said.
“I think he went really well when he went into dummy-half at the end of the game last week.
“And with some of the smaller players (like Nikorima) you can hide them a bit in defence but if he has to ply that position he will muscle up for sure (in defence).”
But Thaiday admitted Brisbane would find it hard to replace McCullough.
“It is always hard when you lose someone like Andrew McCullough,” he said.
“Macca makes so many tackles for us. His presence out in the field is always felt.
“He is definitely a world class dummy-half.”