Brisbane Broncos veteran Ben Hunt has confirmed he will remain in the halves for the remainder of 2025, with Ezra Mam not expected to return.
Brisbane's finals - and beyond that premiership - aspirations were put on life support for a brief moment a number of weeks ago when Mam, Adam Reynolds and Selwyn Cobbo all went down with hamstring injuries on the same night.
Reynolds and Mam, who went down on the same play, were both ruled out for a number of weeks, with Hunt, who arrived at the club from the St George Illawarra Dragons during the off-season, and Billy Walters, who had been playing dummy half throughout 2025, emerging as the stopgap halves pairing.
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They have managed to keep the Broncos firing, securing their spot in the finals with back-to-back wins against the Dolphins and the Newcastle Knights.
A fleeting chance at the top four remains for the Red Hill-based outfit should they be able to secure wins over the North Queensland Cowboys in Townsville this weekend, and the Melbourne Storm at home in Round 27, but the realistic aim, regardless of result, is to host an elimination final from fifth or sixth spot on the ladder.
Adam Reynolds was expected to be back next week in the best-case scenario, but has been named as part of Brisbane's reserves for this week and could play against the Cowboys.
Mam, meanwhile, is set to miss the remainder of the year, and speaking to 4BC Radio in Brisbane, Hunt confirmed he will be alongside Reynolds as the halves pairing for the remainder of the campaign.
"Moving forward, it will probably be the direction we are going in, we aren't 100 per cent yet," Hunt said on air.
"We are not expecting Ezra to be back, not at this stage anyway.
"We had a conversation that once the old boy gets back from his hamstring (injury), he will be back in and we will move on like the start of the year."
Despite Reynolds being named, Hunt said he was surprised to see him in the 22-man squad this week.
"I was surprised when I saw him in there," he said.
"To be fair, we didn't have a big session on Tuesday. It was only two days after our last game. We just did a bit of recovery and got moving again.
"Our big day is (Wednesday). I guess we will get some more information from Madge and Reynolds then."
With Hunt set to stay in the halves alongside Reynolds, it's likely Walters and Cory Paix will resume a split role in the number nine jumper through to the end of the campaign for the Broncos.
