NRL 2024: Contenders for No.7 jersey as Brisbane begins searching for Adam Reynolds’ halfback successor
The Broncos know the pain of letting a class halfback like Sam Walker slip through their fingers. With two halfback options already at the club, could the Broncos promote internally to replace Adam Reynolds?
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Reborn Bulldogs halfback Toby Sexton has been put on the radar of the Broncos as Brisbane begins succession planning for captain Adam Reynolds.
The Broncos have begun analysing potential future No.7s ahead of Reynolds’ expected retirement at the end of the 2025 NRL season.
Some of the game’s most promising young playmakers are free agents at the end of next year, providing the Broncos a smorgasbord of recruitment targets.
Roosters whiz Sam Walker is off-contract at the end of the 2025 season along with Storm rising star Jonah Pezet, highly-rated Cowboys youngster Tom Duffy and ex-Titans halfback Sexton.
The Broncos also have Reynolds’ current back-up, Jock Madden, and schoolboys star Coby Black waiting in the wings at Red Hill if they opt to promote from within.
Despite copping criticism in recent times, Reynolds has been an astute acquisition for the Broncos and helped the club rise from the 2020 wooden spoon lows to last year’s grand final.
While he has some fight in him yet, the 34-year-old’s career is coming to an end and the Broncos have to consider recruiting a top-line No.7 if they are going to challenge for NRL premierships in years to come.
Here is a look at the top contenders to be Brisbane’s next halfback.
TOBY SEXTON
A former Australian Schoolboys halfback, Sexton’s career was at a crossroads after he was let go by the Titans last year and relegated to reserve grade at the start of this season at Canterbury.
But the clever game manager fought his way back into the NRL and the resurgent Bulldogs have won seven of the nine games he has played in this season heading into Sunday’s clash with the Raiders.
Sexton, 23, strangled the Broncos last weekend with his astute short kicking game and has a level head on his shoulders that could complement Broncos five-eighth Ezra Mam’s instinctive brilliance.
Off-contract at the end of next year and facing pressure from highly-rated Dogs youngster Mitchell Woods, Sexton’s name was recently mentioned to the Broncos as a potential 2026 recruit if he can’t secure a future at Belmore.
SAM WALKER
Walker slipped Brisbane’s grasp as a junior and the Broncos would be mad not to have a crack at bringing him home.
The son of ex-Bronco Ben Walker, Sam’s uncles Chris and Shane also played for Brisbane and it would seem right for him to follow in their footsteps at Red Hill.
But prising Walker away from the Roosters will be near impossible.
Walker, 22, has had a great season, highlighted by his destruction of the Dolphins on Friday night, and the Roosters are cashed-up with a number of big name players leaving the club.
You have to be in it to win it but this will be a tough poaching raid for the Broncos to snare Queensland’s next Origin halfback.
JONAH PEZET
The Storm youngster is an incredibly promising playmaker who is stuck behind one of the game’s best halves combinations in Jahrome Hughes and Cameron Munster.
Pezet, 21, has performed admirably in 10 NRL appearances, but has dropped off the radar this year due to a long-term knee injury.
Pezet was man of the match for NSW in the 2022 under-19s Origin and has a long NRL career ahead of him.
It remains to be seen if he is willing to play second fiddle to Hughes and Munster or wants a permanent spot in the top grade.
The Broncos have to at least ask the question.
TOM DUFFY
The Cowboys young gun has been plugging away in the Hostplus Cup this season waiting for a crack at the NRL.
Duffy, 21, has played a key role in Northern Pride’s surge to the top of the ladder and had 22 try-assists in 17 games.
He has been earmarked as Tom Dearden’s halves partner and should get first crack at the No. 7 next season following Chad Townsend’s move to the Roosters.
But Duffy is off-contract at the end 2025 and rival clubs will be watching on.
JOCK MADDEN
Madden, 24, has spent the past two years at Red Hill as Reynolds’ reserve with mixed results.
He got an opportunity for an extended crack in the No. 7 jersey when Reynolds tore a biceps earlier this season but the Broncos went 1-5 before Madden suffered a hamstring injury.
Madden is a popular figure at Red Hill and highly-rated within the Broncos’ inner sanctum.
But the jury is out on whether he is the long-term answer at halfback for Brisbane and his win percentage of 40 for the Broncos isn’t doing him any favours.
COBY BLACK
Black is the great unknown in the Brisbane playmaking puzzle.
The Marsden High product was the most highly-rated halfback in last year’s schoolboys competition and has been part of Brisbane’s system for years.
The Broncos are playing the long game with Black and recently handed him his Hostplus Cup debut with Souths-Logan, where he managed three games in the halves before suffering a thumb injury.
If Black continues his progression he will be a contender to replace Reynolds in 2026 but there is a lot of uncertainty around how he will develop.
It may be a risk for Brisbane to pin their hopes on him given he is unproven at NRL level.
Originally published as NRL 2024: Contenders for No.7 jersey as Brisbane begins searching for Adam Reynolds’ halfback successor
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