After falling to the Melbourne Storm and missing out on the minor premiership, the Brisbane Broncos are now forced to play the same fixture in the first week of the finals.
Brisbane was in a prime position to take out top spot and host the New Zealand Warriors in Week One, a matchup that would favour the Broncos a lot more than currently slated.
SEN’s Scott Sattler has revealed that after the Broncos’ loss to the Storm, the conversations amongst the playing group suggested the Warriors were the preferred opponent.
“We were calling the game for SEN League on Thursday night, I was down on ground level getting some interviews after the game,” Sattler told SENQ Mornings.
“I heard a couple of Broncos’ players say, ‘Oh it would be good to play the Warriors in Week One’.
“I thought, ‘I know you want to take the easiest path in, but you sort of have to be careful what you wish for when you’re thinking that way'.”
The Broncos' confidence would likely stem from the lone regular season outing between the two sides where Brisbane held a double-digit lead for the majority of the game.
“I’d like to think that Kevvie (Walters), John Cartwright and Matt Ballin will be able to change the mindset of the playing group,” Sattler added.
“(I’d tell them), ‘It doesn’t matter who we’re going to play the way we’ve played this year we’ve got the ability to beat anyone’.”
Brisbane will host Melbourne in the first game of the finals series on Friday night at Suncorp Stadium.