The Brisbane Broncos have officially signed one of the NRL's best defenders in Corey Jensen.
The North Queensland Cowboys' prop will join the Broncos on a two-year deal from the start of the 2022 season, the news having first been reported some weeks ago as an almost done deal.
The news comes as the Broncos continue to rebuild their roster under coach Kevin Walters.
Jensen, who debuted in 2017 and won the Cowboys' rookie of the year award in that season, now has 58 games under his belt, although has struggled to feature for Todd Payten this season.
He has played just nine games this season, with only one of those in the starting team. That came in his last appearance, during Round 12 in a tight win against the Warriors, although Jensen only played 21 minutes.
The enforcer has only managed to average 35 minutes per game, and yet has still averaged 90 metres per game in what is a career high.
It's his defence which is a standout though, making 218 tackles with just nine missed for the season, while in his four reserve grade games, he is tackling at almost 100 per cent with just a single miss.
Jensen becomes the second forward to sign on with the Broncos for 2022, although the first in the middle, with Kurt Capewell the other. They are joined by Adam Reynolds and Brenko Lee as the club's new recruits.
Given Brisbane have Payne Haas, Patrick Carrigan and Thomas Flegler in the side, the first two Origin players and the later in the discussion for Origin, Jensen could only realistically expect to come from the bench at Red Hill. Kevin Walters will likely have to decide on his middle forward bench spots between Jensen, Rhys Kennedy, Ethan Bullemor, Keenan Palasia and young gun Xavier Willison.
There has also been speculation that the Broncos will chase experience in the middle third to round out their recruitment, with the club linked to Dylan Napa, Ryan James and Josh McGuire in the past fortnight.
Broncos head of football and performance Ben Ikin said Jensen is a quality player.
“Corey is a quality player who has been around the NRL system for a while. He brings an older, harder edge and will be a great addition to our squad," Ikin said.
