At sixes and sevens over their halves, Brisbane are hoping Brodie Croft regains his mojo at five-eighth against his ex-NRL club Melbourne.

After calls to tweak the Broncos’ spine, under-fire coach Anthony Seibold has finally rolled the dice for their round 11 clash in a desperate bid to turn around their horror run of seven losses from eight games.

He’s handed halfback Croft the No.6 jersey, switched pivot Anthony Milford to fullback and at last responded to demands for young gun Tom Dearden to start at No.7.

Croft has been feeling the heat in his debut Broncos season after forming an underwhelming halves combination with Milford.

Scrutiny is only set to intensify at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night when he runs out against his former club for the first time.

But teammate Joe Ofahengaue is backing Croft to rise to the occasion.

“Brodie will take the challenge on board. There’s a lot of outside noise and he’s one of those guys who doesn’t listen to that,” he said.

“He comes from the Storm system. He knows how they play. He will be up for the challenge (against Melbourne).”

Injury finally forced Seibold to change his halves, with Milford replacing fullback Tesi Niu (wrist).

But the Broncos mentor firmly believes switching Croft to five-eighth for the third time in his 49-game NRL career is what the embattled playmaker needs.

“I wanted to get Tom Dearden into the team so that pre-empted that change (Milford to fullback) but it was also to help Croft in the halves,” Seibold said.

“(Dearden) takes a little bit of that organisation off Crofty and allows Crofty to be freed up a little bit, which I think is important.

“Off the back of a really consistent block of training, (Dearden) deserves to wear the No.7 and bring some organisation and ability on both sides of the footy.

“I just think it’s time for him to get an opportunity.”

Croft made his debut at Melbourne in round 15, 2016.

Seibold will no doubt hope Croft fires against his old club – Brisbane last defeated Melbourne at Suncorp Stadium in 2009.