Anthony Seibold will resist the temptation to use Broncos powerhouse Tevita Pangai jnr as an edge back-rower this year, instead continuing to deploy him as a middle forward.
Pangai moved between playing in the middle and on an edge in 2018, with season-ending injuries to Matt Gillett and then Jaydn Su'A at times forcing former coach Wayne Bennett's hand.
pan66.com analyst Jamie Soward recently called for Pangai to be played on an edge, but Seibold pointed out he already had Matt Gillett, Alex Glenn, Jaydn Su'A and David Fifita to fill those positions.
"I coached the Junior Kangaroos side where I played Tevita on the edge but I have got four edge back-rowers there," Seibold told pan66.com.
"Tevita is a middle [forward] in my eyes. It is about getting our best 17 out on the park and for me, Tevita is a middle player.
"Tevita, along with Joe Ofahengaue and Matt Lodge, are probably at the front of the queue at the moment, but underpinning that we have got Payne Haas, Pat Carrigan and Tommy Flegler coming through and some great experience in Shaun Fensom and Sam Tagataese there.
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"We feel as though we have got depth through the middle."
Patrick Mago is another middle who played regular NRL towards the back end of last year.
The Broncos have lost more than 600 games of middle forward experience with the retirement of Sam Thaiday and the exits of Josh McGuire (Cowboys) and Korbin Sims (Dragons).
The challenge for Tevita ... is to close the gap between their best performance and their worst performance
Anthony Seibold on Tevita Pangai jnr
Seibold will likely play two middle forwards on the bench to complement the starting three. Lodge is set for one front-row position with Ofahengaue and Pangai on track to fill the prop and lock positions.
Josh McGuire was a regular in the No.13 jersey following the retirement of Corey Parker but Seibold said it was a moot point whether Pangai played prop or lock.
"There are three middles in my teams and there is no difference in their role description. The eight, 10 and the 13 all have the same job," he said.
"The challenge for Tevita, like a lot of the young forwards in this group, is to close the gap between their best performance and their worst performance, and that is all about being consistent at training.
"With the best players in the competition in their positions like Jason Taumalolo, Sam Burgess, Jordan McLean and Jesse Bromwich, the difference between their best and worst is very minimal.
"Some of the games I watched last year the Broncos were nine out of 10 and in some they were probably four out of 10.
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"It is about closing the gap ... improving our limiting factors and sharpening our weapons."
The raw material is there but Seibold said getting the side to where he wanted it to be was a work in progress.
"That is not going to be an overnight thing," he said.
"You have to be consistent at training and with what you do every single day. At the moment you can see some fluctuating performances in regard to that. It was a good group last year but now it is about how we can improve."