Ruthless roster calls facing new Broncos boss after $2.5m move
The Broncos have a new man in charge of recruitment with Peter O’Sullivan taking charge at the club on a rich deal.
News Corp has reported that O’Sullivan was on a deal of $350,000-a-season at Newcastle and contracted until 2029, but the Broncos offered a $2.5 million five-year contract to persuade him to leave the grand finalists.
New Broncos recruitment boss Peter O’Sullivan. Brisbane Broncos
O’Sullivan took over recruitment at the Knights in June 2024 after helping construct the Dolphins’ inaugural roster.
He was the architect behind Newcastle’s deal to bring Dylan Brown to the club on a $13 million 10-year contract.
Now he’ll take charge of an organisation determined to return to its status as a consistent top eight club after an abysmal premiership defence.
O’Sullivan is part of a restructure at the Broncos after former recruitment boss Simon Scanlan was moved into a pathways and strategic football projects role.
Troy Thomson has also been elevated from operations manager to executive general manager. Thomson is an ally of coach Michael Maguire, having worked together at South Sydney.
O’Sullivan will now be tasked with making hard decisions on the Broncos roster after the 14th placed finish which embarrassed the team this year.
One call he won’t have to make will be around Xavier Willison, who News Corp reports has already verbally agreed to an extension.
Willison will now be tasked with taking on the Payne Haas role in Brisbane’s forward pack.
O’Sullivan will have a familiar face in Dane Gagai at the club next season while Mitch Barnett, Shawn Blore and Jonah Pezet are the other incoming players.
Grant Anderson, Jesse Athars, Haas, Jaiyden Hunt and Gehamat Shibasaki have all left while Corey Jensen and Adam Reynolds retired.
With the recruitment boss’ feet under the desk, he’ll look towards November 1 and the players Brisbane could lose next year.
The contracts of Blake Mozer and Cameron Bukowski will be interesting. Both men have been touted as potential stars at hooker.
Mozer is now 22 years old, and has struggled with injury in his short career. Bukowski is 21 and debuted this season. Two doesn’t fit into one.
Fellow hooker Cory Paix is also signed until 2028 along with Billy Walters, while Ben Hunt has one year left, too, and will be fighting for a spot in the spine. The hooker position is congested at Brisbane and O’Sullivan will have to sort that out.
Blake Mozer of the Broncos. Getty
Backrow gun Brendan Piakura is also off contract next season and has always shown promise but had his own troubles with injury.
Fellow edge forward Jordan Riki was tipped to leave after his deal ends in 2027 due to a fallout with Maguire. However, that rift has been denied by Thomson.
Riki could demand a bigger contract considering the market value for second-rowers has shot up after Jacob Preston’s deal and the negotiations going on for Liam Martin and Hudson Young.
Josiah Karapani and Deine Mariner have been regulars in the backline but are both coming off contract, along with back-up fullback Hayze Perham.
In the forwards, Ben Talty and Aublix Tawha will be available to rivals come November 1. Talty has been an inspired signing for Maguire having been plucked from NSW Cup last year and going on to play a solid role in the forward pack. His value has risen since moving to Brisbane.
The other interesting piece in the puzzle will be Ezra Mam.
Mam was dropped last season and cut a frustrated figure throughout the season as his decision-making in defence came under fire. The premiership-winning five-eighth could come under pressure with highly touted youngster Calvin Harris-Tavita waiting in the wings.
Mam is contracted until 2029, and it’d have to take a big shock to see him leave in the near future.
