Shibasaki has shone in defence this season. He did a great job marking NSW gun Stephen Crichton in the State of Origin decider.
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Before the team was announced, half Ben Hunt said the players would welcome him back in a heartbeat if coach Michael Maguire went that way.
“He’s had an exceptional year. He knows he made a huge mistake last week and we have moved on now,” Hunt said.
“We are in the finals. We will move on and back whatever decision Madge (Maguire) makes, whether that is Gehamat in or not.”
Maguire had the senior players’ backing to drop Shibasaki initially. The Broncos have enacted an unofficial booze ban, much as the club did in 2006 in the run-up to their last title win.
“There is no straight line in the sand that we are not drinking but it is an [unwritten law] that ‘we are off the drink, boys’,” Hunt said.
“No one has come out and said it but I think it is common knowledge that we are in the finals and it is time to knuckle down and go after it.”
AAP
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