The Brisbane Broncos are set to face a halves conundrum with skipper Adam Reynolds reportedly set to be available for the club's preliminary final clash.
After defeating the Canberra Raiders, the Broncos will now have a one-week break as they prepare for the third week of the 2025 NRL Finals series, and a game away from reaching their first grand final since 2023.
Facing either the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs or the Penrith Panthers next week, the Broncos will receive a massive boost with Adam Reynolds being cleared to play, according to The Courier-Mail.
However, this presents a conundrum for coach Michael Maguire, with Ben Hunt delivering a starring performance in the No.7 jersey and even kicking the match-winning field goal to win the game on Sunday afternoon.
Despite this, the 353-game NRL veteran confirmed to the publication that he is more than happy to move out of the halves to accommodate Reynolds' inclusion.
“If ‘Reyno' is fit, he has to come back into the side,” Hunt told the publication.
“There's no doubt about it for me. I will happily step aside for him. He is our captain, and he is our little general, and you talk about field goals, he doesn't miss them.
“In these big sudden-death games, you need as much experience as you can get on the field. It will be up to ‘Madge' (Maguire) to fit everyone in, but Reyno has to come back into the team.
“The positive for us is we have a lot of options. I started the year at five-eighth beside Reyno.
“Billy (Walters) is going superb at six, but we have a few weeks to work it out, which is nice, and I will leave it up to the coach.”
While it is unknown if Hunt will remain in the halves alongside Reynolds or slot into the dummy-half role, the Broncos have suffered a massive injury blow, adding to their woes.
While the club will be without Patrick Carrigan (suspension) for next week's clash, fellow forward Brendan Piakura sustained a cheekbone fracture and is looking at a recovery of three to five weeks - this all but rules him out for the remainder of the season.
It is understood that five-eighth Ezra Mam is also making good progress as he attempts to return to the field after sustaining a hamstring injury.
Meanwhile, Selwyn Cobbo and Xavier Willison may potentially also become available if they were to advance to the 2025 NRL Grand Final.
While Willison is a lock in the team if available, Cobbo is unlikely to push for a spot in the back-line with Deine Mariner and Josiah Karpanai securing the two wing positions.
Reynolds’ fitness is questionable. Maybe the coach will see what happened to the Storm’s star half when they brought him back too early. If a damaged body part is not fully recovered then the body compensates by taking pressure off it and making other parts behave differently to normal. That was how Jahrome Hughes ended up with a broken arm/wrist.
I would either keep Hunt at 7 and put Reynolds on the bench at 14, or swap them with Reynolds starting and Hunt at 14 as cover for the 6, 7 and 9 spots.