Broncos rookie Jake Turpin wants to prove himself an NRL quality player

Unbeaten Bronco Jake Turpin says he wants to “make a mark’’ in coming weeks to draw a contract offer from the Broncos or NRL rivals.

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Unbeaten Bronco Jake Turpin says he wants to “make a mark’’ in coming weeks to draw a contract offer from the Broncos or NRL rivals.

Brisbane have won all four games in which off-contract Turpin, a 22-year-old former Storm lower grades player, has played for them, leading club staffers to tease him about being a “lucky charm’’.

“I’m not looking at next year yet. With Macca being out I get my opportunity. I’m not going to take it lightly – I want to really make a mark with my games,’’ Turpin said.

“The staff get into me a bit, about me being a bit of a lucky charm.

“I don’t know if the players know about the four from four. Every time I play, the boys have a good performance, so I’m just lucky I think.’’

Turpin has topped the tackle count in both his two games since Andrew McCullough suffered a knee injury.

Turpin has made every post a winner. AAP Image/Darren England.

The indefatigable McCullough has the highest tackle average of any NRL player in 2019, but Turpin has a more hard hitting tackling style, as he showed with jolting hits on Roosters Ryan Hall and James Tedesco in the same set last Thursday.

“I love that sort of part of the game where I can try to trap them in their end and bring some energy to our team,’’ Turpin said.

“I pride myself, No.1, on my game in defence and I need to keep moving forward with it. If I don’t come off the field bruised and sore I‘m pretty filthy with myself.’’

McCullough is highly respected by Broncos players and management and is contracted to the end of 2020.

It would seem unlikely that Brisbane would have three contenders for the first grade dummy-half spots on their books for next year, leaving both Turpin and relief dummy-half James Segeyaro, 28, showing their wares in the NRL shop window.

Turpin prides himself on his strong defence. Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images.

Turpin and Segeyaro, who scored the match-clinching try from dummy-half in his debut for the Broncos, will have at least three more weeks together until McCullough recovers from a knee injury.

“They are awesome,’’ skipper Darius Boyd said.

“If we get some ruck speed we know he (Segeyaro) is going to take off and we need to be on board.

“It’s disappointing Andrew hasn’t been there but they add different sparks to our game, which we will hopefully see more of through the season. Turps has a different type of game. He brings a strong defensive game.’’

NSW Origin coach Brad Fittler, who was at Brisbane’s 15-10 win over Sydney Roosters last week, said that “with Turpin and Segeyaro, they are a different team now’’.

Turpin paid tribute to McCullough for assistance in the past fortnight on how to work best with the Brisbane middle forwards to create momentum.