The Broncos have ramped-up their aggressive recruitment drive with Brisbane targeting Storm grand final back-rower Shawn Blore.

This masthead can reveal Brisbane bosses have met with the Melbourne forward, who toured the Broncos’ facilities on Wednesday in the lead-up to Saturday night’s blockbuster against the Cowboys in Townsville.

The off-contract 25-year-old is without a deal for next season and has been in talks with Melbourne about extending.

Blore played against Brisbane in last year’s NRL decider but the Samoa international could find himself in Broncos colours next season as the defending premiers look to bolster their back-row stocks.

Strike back-rower Brendan Piakura has been stood down indefinitely due to a series of head knocks and Broncos coach Michael Maguire confirmed his interest in Blore.

“Yes, ‘Blorey’ is a player of interest,” Maguire said.

“We have to look at building our depth in the back row so we’re looking across the competition at a number of options.

“We haven’t made an offer to Shawn as yet, but we’re talking to him and we’ll see where it goes.

“’Brendy’ (Piakura) is out at the moment and we’re going through the process with our medical team.

“Shawn has played in two grand finals for the Storm, so he’s certainly a quality player.”

Blore has a connection with Maguire – the two-time premiership coach handed the hard-running back-rower his NRL debut at the Wests Tigers in 2020.

The Sydney-born forward has since amassed 90 NRL games, moving to the Storm two years ago and becoming a mainstay in the back row, playing consecutive grand finals against Penrith and Broncos in 2024-25.

The Broncos desperately need to beef-up their second-row stocks with Piakura and Jordan Riki their frontline options on the edge.

But with growing concern over Piakura, whose long-term career could be under a cloud, the Broncos are keen to have Blore on their books for 2027 and beyond.

Blore has struggled with form and injury this season playing just nine games, having featured in 24 matches in each of the past two seasons before this year.

He started in the back-row in each of Melbourne’s past two grand final losses.

The Broncos have already added some muscle to their forward pack having landed NSW prop Mitch Barnett from the Warriors to succeed South Sydney-bound superstar Payne Haas.

Aside from Barnett, the Broncos have signed Newcastle veteran Dane Gagai and Parramatta half Jonah Pezet and Blore could be their next purchase.