Carrigan adamant Broncos pack can silence barking Dogs

Broncos leader Pat Carrigan has dismissed the notion that he and Payne Haas are a two-man band in the engine room ahead of a highly anticipated showdown with the unbeaten Bulldogs.

The two big guns were the only Broncos forwards to run for more than 100 metres in the loss to the Warriors but Carrigan is adamant the rest of the pack will stand tall against Cameron Ciraldo's men.

“Myself and Payne have got a lot of areas that we want to improve on too and part of that comes with the balance side of things," he said.

“We have played a bit of footy together, but in terms of what Kobe [Hetherington] and CJ [Corey Jensen] bring to the table, especially from what we think internally, is massive.

“I enjoy playing with those boys and Tyson [Smoothy] had an opportunity and Jaiyden Hunt as well.

“They have been more than doing their job.

"As a team, we have let each other down around some of the fundamentals, around errors and that sort of thing and I had my fair share on the weekend, so it's about those sorts of things, rather than sharing the load.”

On the back of a surprise loss to the Roosters, coach Michael Maguire had challenged his side to up their physicality against the Warriors encounter.

“Madge probably sort of poked the bear a bit after the Roosters game when he said we weren’t physical enough to start (and) I thought we took a great step against the Warriors and set a standard defensively that we want to maintain this year,” prop Corey Jensen said.

“The challenge gets no bigger than Thursday night. The Bulldogs are the benchmark.”

Carrigan agreed it would a challenge, but one he was looking forward to.

“It's going to be fun,” Carrigan said.

“They are a small, mobile, fit pack. The thing I notice the most is they are really playing together and enjoying their footy.

“They are the benchmark in the competition at the moment and the forward pack and the good things they are doing is coming off the back of that.

“We will have a good test this week, it's exciting and I'm looking forward to it.

“The way they are playing together and combining, you can see it in their brand of footy. We got a feeler for them in the trials and we get to play them nice and early again.

“The Doggies have a proud history and they have a system there with Cam [coach Cameron Ciraldo] and everything they are doing, they are buying into and you can see that in their footy.

“I feel that here as well. We have missed some of the parameters in our game. We are really enjoying playing footy together and playing under Madge and that new style with Baz [Trent Barrett] and [Ben] Te’o as well.

“We aren't far off.

"I have been in those positions before, it's a fun and enjoyable environment, because you are competing hard for each other and that's what they have got at the moment.

“In terms of the competition, they are definitely setting the benchmark, but it's exciting for us to see where we can go."

While the forward battle will be one to keep an eye on, Maguire has been forced to make changes to his outside backs following confirmation that fullback Reece Walsh will be out of action for four-to-six weeks with a PCL injury sustained in the opening minute of the match against the Warriors.

With Selwyn Cobbo named in the custodian role, Jensen expected the State of Origin star would bring his own strengths to the position.

“He has been there before and done the job,” Jensen said.

“He has different attributes to Reece that he will bring to the team.

“We have confidence he can step into the role.

"It is unfortunate for Reece, but credit to him. It happened the first play of the game and he managed to get through and play the full 80.

“I know he will do everything to get back as quick as he can.”