‘This is where I want to be’: In-demand Bronco reveals long-term plans

“Captaining the Broncos was something I never thought was going to happen, I just wanted to play one game when I was younger, let alone captain the team.

“We’ve got a good leadership group here. At the end of the day … we have five captains out there.”

Staggs is expected to miss at least the first month of the NRL season with a quad injury, opening the door for a new-look centre partnership to battle the Roosters on Thursday night.

While Deine Mariner was heavily tipped to join the former State of Origin strike weapon, Gehamat Shibasaki’s preseason form was poised to keep the 21-year-old on the outer before Staggs’ setback.

Mariner revealed he has since put on three kilograms of muscle mass, confessing he launched new coach Michael Maguire’s regimen with defensive deficiencies in his game.

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That presented Shibasaki’s chance, but the Samoa international was adamant he had developed enough to physically withstand the challenge ahead.

“There were a lot of things I was struggling with when I came into preseason … but being able to compete every day with the spot up for grabs has pushed me to become my best version,” Mariner, who has scored 22 tries in 27 NRL appearances, told this masthead.

“It was defence which was the main thing – it’s 50 per cent of the game – and that was one thing where I was never really tested.

“I played wing all last year, and when I did play centre it was only a handful of games, so I didn’t really have that experience in first-grade at centre defensively.

“That was something Shibba brought, something I needed to work on, and something Madge really enjoyed about him. I have an opportunity in round one to put out everything I’ve learnt this preseason.”