Broncos captain, Justin Hodges, is battling a back injury ahead of Sunday’s big all Queensland match-up.

He failed to complete this morning’s warm up.

The team hopes he will do final training tomorrow.

In the meantime, 100’s of fans packed Townsville Airport to farewell the Cowboys.

Amadee Stenzel reports.

TRANSCRIPT

Almost 500 excited fans lined the airport in Townsville to see their team off and show their true colours.

Although North Queensland has yet to win a Grand Final, they’re feeling good about their chances for a maiden Premiership.

Matt Scott, Cowboys Co-Captain: “This year we’ve sort of timed our run pretty well, we had a couple of, I suppose, not bad games, but games below par leading into the finals and each week we’ve improved so hopefully we can continue to do that.”

Fans are also optimistic about the outcome of the decider.

VOX 1: “Oh they’re gonna do it, they’ll make it.”

VOX 2: :”They are going to win yes, they’ll ride the Broncos, they will ride them to glory yes.”

VOX 3: “I think we’ve put in enough effort the last couple of years to build the team up and I reckon it’s our turn.”

The Broncos trained at St Josephs College in Sydney today.

Concerns were raised about Skipper Justin Hodges’ performance after he failed to complete a warm-up due to an ongoing back complaint, however Broncos officials aren’t worried.

Sunday’s final at ANZ Stadium will draw the curtain on his 16-season career.

Amadee Stenzel, QUT News.