With the Brisbane Broncos' pre-season challenge beginning on Sunday, their preparation is kicking into gear. For their young outside backs, that means relying on the invaluable experience of club legend Darius Boyd.
Following their poor end to last season, the Broncos have named a strong line-up for their trial against the Gold Coast Titans, includingย Payne Haas, Kotoni Staggs, Herbie Farnworth, Jordan Pereira and Reece Walsh in his first appearance for the club.
Boyd works directly with most of those players after being hired by the club to work with the outside backs part-time, and his influence is already paying off for Pereira.
"Darbs (Darius Boyd) has been tremendous for me personally and understands the modern game very well," Pereira told the AAP.
"He understands what fullbacks are trying to do to the defence so he has got the antidote, the kryptonite to try and come up against it.
"He has been massive with the small nuances of the defence... to solve things.
"When he got the ball at fullback when he was playing he said his first cue was to look at what their winger was doing and make a decision. He is trying to do the opposite and work from the reverse end and that has helped me massively."
Pereira also highlighted Adam Reynolds, who still plays for the club but will not be involved on Sunday, as another great source of advice for the young backs as they try to take that final step out of 9th and into the finals.
"When you hear something coming from someone like him (Reynolds), you listen," Pereira said.
"Today (at training) my positioning was five metres out of position for my pendulum shape on a kick. They didn't kick it, but he said, 'You need to be five metres this way'. I said, 'Yep, my bad'."
The Titans have also named a group of familiar first graders, including David Fifita and Jayden Campbell, which will make for an intriguing trial come Sunday.
