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Walker a harder target now for Broncos

3 minute read

Brisbane have needed to find a new man to target the Sydney Roosters' Sam Walker after Tevita Pangai manhandled the young half in their previous NRL clash.

TEVITA PANGAI.
TEVITA PANGAI. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

Brisbane expect Sam Walker to be a tougher man to take down on Friday night after their hit-and-run job on the Sydney Roosters half forced the upset of the NRL season in May.

Roosters players will enter the Suncorp Stadium showdown fully expecting Walker to be targeted, after he was manhandled by the Broncos in round 11.

The teenage playmaker received particular attention from Tevita Pangai, prompting Victor Radley to lose his cool and be sin-binned twice.

Walker's night ended with three missed tackles and five errors, with the Roosters shock 34-16 losers.

While Pangai will not be there for the Broncos on Friday night, Walters said there was no shortage of players ready to run at Walker.

"We got 17 Broncos queued up ready to go for that one," Walters said.

"Alex (Glenn) is obviously the guy that's playing on that side, Alex has got some great skills, some offloading skills.

"But Sam's just one player and in their side, so we've got to really get a good balance across both our attack and defence.

"That was nine or 10 weeks ago. He's got a lot more football under his belt, Sam."

The Roosters also know it's coming.

Walker's 78kg frame has been targeted all season, most recently by Viliame Kikau in Penrith's win last weekend.

"It's going to happen every week until we do something about it," Roosters coach Trent Robinson said.

"So that's good. You know where the traffic's going and you know where they're headed.

"And therefore, we're in control of nullifying that. And that's up to us, and we're going to keep working towards that."

The man in charge of being Walker's bodyguard will largely be Sitili Tupouniua, while Radley will again have his part to play at lock.

But Robinson is also confident that Walker has learned and is better prepared for the ambush too.

"It's a part of learning for Sammy and for ourselves, it's great," Robinson said.

"It's just continual both mental and physical. Understanding, signing on for it, getting mentally prepared for it.

"And then it's about physically training, constant training."

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