3 minute read

Brisbane veteran Andrew McCullough says a lack of experience won't stop Payne Haas and David Fifita from making an impact in the NRL finals.

Not much fazes Brisbane young guns Payne Haas and David Fifita.

And veteran Broncos hooker Andrew McCullough has warned NRL rivals that lack of finals experience won't daunt them either.

Thanks to teenage battering rams Fifita and Haas, seventh-placed Brisbane are all but assured of an NRL finals berth ahead of Saturday's regular-season finale against Canterbury.

They will only be denied a top-eight finish if they suffer an upset loss to the Bulldogs and eighth-placed Cronulla play out an extra-time draw with ninth-placed Wests Tigers on Sunday.

But there appears to be one glaring chink in the resurgent Broncos' armour as they count down to the finals.

Fifita, fellow forward Matt Lodge and key backs Jamayne Isaako and Kotoni Staggs only have one finals match to their name.

And forwards Haas, Pat Carrigan and Thomas Flegler have none.

McCullough - an 11-season Broncos veteran - admitted finals "smarts" were important.

But he believed it would not stop 19-year-olds Haas and Fifita from making a major impact in the playoffs.

"As a young guy you are care-free. You just go in there and play football," McCullough said.

"You don't know what the process of finals is like, you just get out there and play footy and that is what we need from those boys.

"They don't need to do anything different or special. It's another game of football.

"Why change something that is working well? They still need to fix up areas of their game but Seibs (coach Anthony Seibold) is working on it with them."

Queensland back-rower Fifita is averaging almost 95m a game this year and has scored four blockbusting tries in as many games to help spark a Broncos revival.

In the last nine weeks Brisbane have won six games and had a draw to keep their top-eight quest alive after a horror 2-6 season start.

Only minor premiers Melbourne and defending champions Sydney Roosters have won more games in that nine week period.

Former NSW prop Haas has been just as important to their turnaround, averaging 188m after career highs of 224m and 46 tackles in their last round 17-16 golden point win over Parramatta.

"Potentially they can do whatever they want really," McCullough said of Haas and Fifita's finals impact.

"They have come in with a lot of expectations but they have kept it pretty simple and they are some big strong boys, but we have to play with a bit of smarts now when it comes to finals games.

"They are tight games so we have to make sure we nail everything right."