Brisbane stalwart Andrew McCullough has hailed the remarkable athleticism of the Broncos' latest crop of youngsters, after he helped them to a memorable win by switching to a position he last played over a decade ago.
The Queensland club blooded three debutants in Sunday's come-from-behind 24-22 away win over Cronulla in Sydney on Sunday.
One of the trio was 18-year-old winger Xavier Coates, who will inevitably draw comparisons with former Bronco Israel Folau, after soaring to score one try off a high kick and having another one rubbed out for a knock on.
Also making their NRL debut were winger Herbie Farnworth and forward Keenan Palasia. Rhys Kennedy played his first match for Brisbane after making his first two senior appearances for South Sydney earlier this year.
Coach Anthony Seibold pointed out that 10 of the squad had played fewer than 13 senior matches.
The Broncos rallied from 22-12 down early in the second half after Sharks veteran Josh Morris scored a hat-trick of tries in just ten minutes.
Given the inexperience of his side, Seibold rated it the bravest and best win he had been involved in and revealed he shed tears at an emotional jersey presentation to the debutants on Saturday.
McCullough felt the emergence of the newcomers boded well for the club's future.
"Athletic-wise there' some remarkable kids in that group, that can do some things that a lot of us can't," McCullough said.
At one stage on Sunday, Brisbane had three specialist hookers on the field in McCullough, Jake Turpin and James Segeyaro.
McCullough started at hooker, but was switched to halfback for the second half, when starting seven Sean O'Sullivan was forced off with a hamstring injury.
It was the first time the 29-year-old had played at halfback since his rookie season 11 years ago.
"I kept it pretty simple, I tried to defend myself, make sure I just hang around the ball , kick it into the corners," McCullough said.
"Those games are never won on flashy stuff, it's just hanging in there and trying to dig deep and scrap and come up with the plays and we did that at the end."
While Brisbane stand to get four players back from Origin, Sullivan and centre Gehamat Shibasaki (finger fracture) are both set to be sidelined for a while.
