Ben Hannant and Alex Glenn fit for Brisbane Broncos’ NRL clash against Wests Tigers

BEN Hannant has a golden opportunity to press his Origin claims, with the prop catapulted into the starting side for tomorrow night’s clash.

BEN Hannant has a golden opportunity to press his Origin selection claims with the Broncos prop catapulted into the starting side for tomorrow night’s clash against the Tigers at Suncorp Stadium.

Hannant was not initially named in the Brisbane line-up but the Maroons veteran has been pitchforked into the engine room after successfully completing the side’s final training run at Red Hill this morning.

The return of Hannant sees Josh McGuire relegated to the Broncos bench alongside Ben Hunt, David Hala and Mitchell Dodds, with Jarrod Wallace and Dunamis Lui dropping off interchange.

In a further boost for the Broncos, Kiwi Test forward Alex Glenn (hamstring) has received the green light after coming through today’s session.

Hannant missed Origin I due to a calf injury but his clearance to face the Tigers gives the former Test prop one final chance to impress before the Queensland side for Game Two is named on Tuesday.

Maroons prop David Shillington is in the firing line after struggling for impact in the series opener and Hannant, a veteran of nine Origin matches, could force his way in with a dominant display at Suncorp.

But Hannant’s Origin quest is the least of coach Anthony Griffin’s concerns. He is bracing for mind games from the Tigers, believing coaching rival Mick Potter will pull late switches by naming injured trio Robbie Farah, Chris Lawrence and James Tedesco.

“Benny Hannant is definitely right and Alex Glenn got through as well which is good. Lachlan Maranta comes in for Jordy Kahu ... Jordy had an operation early in the week on his broken thumb,” Griffin said this morning.

“I’m not interested in Origin. I’m worried about Monday night. If our guys play well Monday night they will give themselves a chance.

“Benny’s job at the moment is to play a good game in the front-row for us and if he does that, the other things will happen for him.

“Ben has a pretty good motor so it suits us to get him out there, have a stint straight up and then get McGuire on.”

Broncos training at Red Hill. Ben Hannant. Picture: Mark Calleja

Farah (cheekbone) was expected to return for NSW in Origin II, but Griffin won’t be surprised if the Blues rake joins Lawrence, Tedesco and Liam Fulton (knee) in the Tigers side.

None of the quartet were named by Potter last Tuesday.

“We’re not ruling them out being at their best, they will be very desperate to win the game,” Griffin said.

“The fullback they named, (Sean) Meaney, played NSW Cup yesterday, so obviously someone like Tedesco is in.

“The type of injury he (Farah) has got is similar to the one Jack Reed had and he came back in two weeks.

“They have a lot of guys who are close to playing like Lawrence ... and Fulton will be on the bench as far as we know.

“We’re preparing for them to be at full tilt but we’re not concentrating on them too hard, we have to be ready for whatever they throw at us.”

Griffin concedes his side, languishing in 11th spot with a 5-8 win-loss record, is lacking confidence and needs to dispose of the Tigers to build momentum.

“Obviously we’re not where we want to be and that is frustrating,” he said.

“But we have a lot of faith in each other. We have ourselves in a position we don’t want to be and we’ll get ourselves out of that position.

“That is about us working as a group and that is our focus tomorrow night.”