Halfback chaos engulfs Brisbane and Canberra ahead of NRL season openers

With just a week to go before the NRL season kicks off, two clubs' halfback situations have been thrown into chaos.

For Brisbane, who have lost Adam Reynolds for their season opener against South Sydney due to the NRL's COVID protocols, the situation is temporary.

But for the Raiders it could be far more permanent, with the club turning to rookie half Brad Schneider after Jamal Fogarty was diagnosed with a long-term knee injury.

After returning a positive PCR test, Reynolds and lock Kobe Hetherington must isolate for the next week, ruling them out of Brisbane's match on Friday night.

Broncos co-captain Pat Carrigan admitted it was a blow to Brisbane's season launch but was confident that between Billy Walters, Tyson Gamble and Albert Kelly the Broncos could land on a winning halves combination.

«It's not an ideal start to the season for us. Reyno's résumé and what he did at South Sydney speaks for itself, we're definitely going to miss him,» Carrigan said.

«But in saying that, the club has been really big on putting things in place this season for us to know it was a matter of time – boys aren't going to be able to avoid COVID all year.

»It's just a small hurdle and it's something I'm confident we can overcome. He'll hopefully be there round 2."

Reynolds didn't play in either of Brisbane's trials, with Walters, Gamble, Kelly and exciting rookie Ezra Mam all splitting time at five-eighth and halfback.

Carrigan believes the veteran's lack of pre-season playing time is now something of an advantage given the quartet have all had some minutes playing alongside one another.

«The fans and a lot of people were looking forward to see Reyno but once that game happens and there's 40,000 people we'll have two more-than-competent players in