Brisbane boosted as James Roberts set to face Cowboys

Broncos flyer James Roberts is on track to take his place in Friday night’s Queensland derby clash against the Cowboys after injuring himself in Brisbane’s season opener.

James Roberts is expected to face the Cowboys on Friday. (AAP Image/Dan Peled)

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Broncos flyer James Roberts is on track to make a shock recovery from injury for Friday night’s Queensland derby against the Cowboys.

The Broncos completed a gruelling two-hour training run on Wednesday in sweltering heat with Roberts taking part for most of the session ahead of the Suncorp Stadium showdown with their 2015 grand-final nemesis.

Roberts appeared to be no hope of facing the Cowboys after suffering back spasms in the season-opener against the Storm, hobbling to the touchline after just five minutes.

James Roberts is expected to face the Cowboys on Friday. (AAP Image/Dan Peled)

But Brisbane’s fastest player ran strongly on Wednesday at Red Hill. While he later claimed to be “a bit sore” as he headed inside Brisbane’s training headquarters, he moved freely during the session and will be given the green light by medicos if he pulls up well on Thursday morning.

Broncos winger Corey Oates said Brisbane desperately needed Roberts’ match-winning brilliance for a Queensland derby that traditionally goes down to the wire.

“That’s good to see,” Oates said of the sight of Roberts training today.

Roberts has trained strongly since his injury in the season opener. (AAP Image/Dan Peled)

“He is happy and hopefully good to go.

“He trained well here so fingers crossed Jimmy doesn’t pull up sore and he gets the green light for Friday night.

“I’m pretty confident (Roberts will play). He looked pretty good. He is a great player, he is tough to handle, he can pull something out of the bag when you need it and that’s the type of game it’s going to be.

“We can put Kotoni (Staggs) in there (if Roberts is ruled out), that’s how the coach will go about it.”

Matt Gillett expects Roberts to recovery in time for the Queensland derby. (AAP Image/Daniel Pockett)

Oates was Brisbane’s best player last week, scoring two tries and running for 221 metres in his side’s season-opening 22-12 loss to the Storm.

But the Queensland Origin ace is wary of confronting former Broncos teammate Josh McGuire, the Cowboys recruit who carved out a reputation at Brisbane as a hard-edged niggler.

“Josh is a leader in their team,” Oates said.

“It’s always good being on the same side as the stuff ‘Moose’ comes up with.

“I’ve never had to come up against it so it will be interesting to see how he goes about this game.

Josh McGuire will face his old club for the first time. (Photo by Ian Hitchcock/Getty Images)

“He will be a professional and play a leading role for the Cowboys.

“I’m sure there will be a bit of niggle there with the boys. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see something from Moose to get a reaction from the boys.

“I will be running at him, he’s probably the smallest forward they’ve got ... sorry Moose.

“The last three or four years it has always been close, so it’s going to be a cracker of a derby.”