Former Broncos and Dragons winger Wendell Sailor has urged Brisbane to target out-of-favour Storm hooker Brandon Smith at the expense of prop Matt Lodge.
Smith, 24, has been told by Melbourne that he is able to assess his options for the 2022 season and beyond, with several rival clubs understood to be circling the New Zealand international.
Speaking on Triple M, Sailor said the Broncos and Kevin Walters should go "all in" on Smith, with Lodge or another player to make way for the No.9.
“I’ll be honest I know Kevvie was talking about signing any Smith and I know when they signed Jack Bird a couple of years ago it was going to be big, unfortunately for Jack he got a few injuries,” Sailor said.
“But this is what the Broncos need at the moment. They need to go all in here and they need to get rid of Matt Lodge or whoever.
“They need to go hard for Brandon Smith. As a player [he would be a great buy], but I also think they’ve lost a bit of culture.
“He’s a bit of a scallywag, but he’s heart and soul. People just love him, he’ll bring the fans in. We saw him and Cameron Munster after the grand final.
“I love him and as ex-Broncos man, I think Kevvie and him would be perfect together… and [with assistant coach] Allan Langer too.”
While a potential Lodge departure would open up some cap room to land Smith, the Broncos would then have five dummy-halves on their books, with Andrew McCullough, Cory Paix, Isaac Luke and Jake Turpin already fighting for the No.9 jumper.
