Broncos to play Capras in pre-season trial

Capras coach David Faiumu: ‘It’s a wonderful opportunity for the club and the region.”

GAME ON: The Brisbane Broncos will play the CQ Capras in a trial game at Browne Park in February next year. Picture: AAP Image/Joel Carrett

RUGBY LEAGUE: The Brisbane Broncos will tackle the Rockhampton Leagues Club Capras in a pre-season trial in Rockhampton next year.

The teams will face off at Browne Park at 7pm on Saturday, February 15.

They played previously in a trial at Theodore at a similar time last year, with the Broncos winning 16-6 in front of a 2500-strong crowd.

The Rockhampton game is one of four trial games the Broncos will play over three weekends, their other opponents being Wynnum-Manly Seagulls, Gold Coast Titans and North Queensland Cowboys.

Capras player Junior Kirisome in action against the Brisbane Broncos in the trial game at the Theodore Showgrounds in February last year. Picture: Chris Ison

Capras coach David Faiumu is expecting a strong Broncos team and will not be surprised to see the likes of Darius Boyd and Andrew Milford in the line-up.

“This is really exciting and it’s a wonderful opportunity for the club and the region,” he said.

“I don’t know who will be playing but the mail from the Broncos is they will have a pretty strong line-up and that’s what we want.

“I believe they will be playing some of their main guys and some of their Q-Cup players as well.”

Faiumu said he would look to field the Capras strongest team for the trial.

“It will be good to see how we fare against a top-line NRL squad, which is what we’re going to come up against when we play Redcliffe and the Sunshine Coast and teams like that.

“It’s going to be a great test for us to see where we’re at fitness-wise and where we’re at physically and in terms of our attacking plays and defensive structures.”

Capras coach David Faiumu “It will be good to see how we fare against a top-line NRL squad.”

A week later the Capras will head to PNG to play the curtain-raiser to the NRL trial between the Cronulla Sharks and the Canterbury Bulldogs.

The games will be played on February 22 at Port Moresby’s National Football Stadium, which holds 15,000 people.

Faiumu said it would be a great experience for the squad, not just football-wise but also culturally.

“It’s the first time that any NRL teams have played over there in a trial fixture, or any fixture for that matter, so it will be massive,” he said.

“They will sell the stadium out, it will be jam-packed.

“I think it’s a good opportunity for us to travel with the new group we’ve got. Probably 85 to 95 per cent of them have never been there so it will be a good test run for the travel, the recovery and the actual game, playing over there in that type of atmosphere.

“We play them (PNG) in the Country Round later in the year and that was one of the big factors as to why I wanted to go over there and play.”