Ivan Henjak can thank the emergence of several Broncos youngsters for boosting his flying start as an NRL head coach.

Henjak (6-1) has already made a mockery of suggestions he would struggle to step out of the shadow of illustrious predecessor Wayne Bennett.

Under-20 graduates Andrew McCullough, Alex Glenn, Jharal Yow Yeh and Josh McGuire and young former Roosters winger Antonio Winterstein have been a revelation after pundits predicted Brisbane would struggle following the departures of Michael Ennis, Ben Hannant, David Stagg, Darius Boyd, Denan Kemp and Joel Moon and the retirement of veteran hit man Tonie Carroll.

If not for a fourth round stumble to Bennett's Dragons - when Henjak admits he over-trained his players in a short week after a long trip to Auckland - the 46-year-old former Raiders halfback would have a perfect record and be on track to equal Englishman Malcolm Reilly's rookie coach record of nine straight wins with Newcastle in 1995.

As it is, another win against Newcastle on Saturday night in skipper Darren Lockyer's 300th NRL game would see him equal the coaching debut of Phil Gould who won seven of his first eight games with Canterbury in 1988.

It's the kind of start which gives Henjak a genuine shot of repeating the efforts of debutants Ricky Stuart (Roosters) in 2002 and Michael Hagan (Newcastle) in 2000 who won the premiership in their first year.

Glenn and hooker McCullough have played in all of Brisbane's seven games while McGuire has played four games, including making his debut against the Warriors.

Broncos football manager Peter Nolan said none of the club's young guns had surprised by making the step up so quickly.

"I know it's easy to say now but Andrew (McCullough) hasn't surprised any of us," he said.

"We've always had high hopes for him and he played a few games for us last year during Origin.

"He's a very level-headed kid who works very hard and he's very sound defensively."

Nolan said Glenn was a bit older having just turned 21.

"Those extra few years are very handy but he is a player we've always had a very high opinion of," he said.

"We've been looking forward to him coming into the senior grade.

"We showed a lot of faith in him when he was a kid on the Gold Coast who hadn't played much football.

"We knew he was going to be a back-rower for us.

"He's tough, he's got good footwork, pace and endurance and he's a fantastic kid with leadership qualities."

Brisbane have always been cautious about burning out young players but the Toyota Cup for under 20 year-olds has helped better prepare them for first grade.

"We never over play them because they tend to burn off at that young age," said Nolan.

"The coaches keep an eye on that and there are indicators when they do train off."

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