Brisbane boss Paul White says there will not be a mass player roster clean out in the wake of their embarrassing NRL finals exit.
But Broncos director Darren Lockyer admits the spine needs a shake-up, backing their pursuit of Melbourne No.7 Brodie Croft while playing down Gold Coast’s Ash Taylor as a target.
Speculation was rife that veteran hooker Andrew McCullough was set to leave, prized recruit Jack Bird was being shopped around and fullback Anthony Milford was on thin ice after coach Anthony Seibold held his end of season player review.
While White confirmed Brisbane would be going to the player market ahead of the 2020 season, he said there was “definitely not mass changes” planned.
“No one was told under those circumstances that you’re gone from our club,” White told Nine Network’s 100% Footy when asked about the end of season review.
“They were put on notice about where they sat, where their performance was at and what was required as we lead into 2020.
“On the one hand you can’t be critical of your coach for being honest with his players.”
Still, the Broncos look set to boast a new-look halves pairing next year after Seibold was recently spotted speaking with out of favour Storm playmaker Croft at a Sydney cafe.
Asked if Brisbane were in the market for a No.7, White said: “Yeah, that’ll be part of the mix obviously.”
Lockyer admitted they needed to look at their spine after what critics believed was an ill-fated mid-season swap between regular fullback Darius Boyd and five-eighth Anthony Milford.
Brisbane struggled under the on-field direction of pivot Boyd, who combined with regular hooker Jake Turpin at halfback – a pairing that was brutally exposed in their record 58-0 elimination final loss to Parramatta.
“You look at our spine in general, compared to the top four teams and we have a big gap there,” Lockyer told Nine Network.
“Brodie is on the outer at Melbourne and he ticks a lot of boxes in terms of being able to give direction in a game, he has a kicking game, he’s a solid defender – that’s what we are lacking in that playmaking (position).
“Milford is another. He went back to fullback this year but I just don’t know if he is capable of playing at that elite level at fullback.
“He might come back into the equation of playing in the halves again – (but) we have got to identify the spine and stick with them to get some stability and consistency again.”
However, Lockyer baulked at speculation Brisbane were pursuing ex-Bronco Taylor after reports the Titans were open to releasing the halfback from his lucrative contract.
“Ash is on good money there (Titans) but if Ash wanted to come back to the Broncos…we would welcome him back to the club but on a really small deal,” he said.
“It would be like an opportunity to come back and…if you play good enough footy and earn your spot then well done but it’s not like we are out there going to systematically recruit Ash Taylor.”
