Coach Ivan Henjak has taken a shot at what he calls ill-informed critics bagging the Broncos for safeguarding the club's NRL future.

Henjak is tiring of questions constantly posed about Brisbane releasing a number of high-profile players in recent years including props Petero Civoniceva, Ben Hannant and Dave Taylor along with NSW hooker Michael Ennis.

A big supporter of the club's youth policy, Henjak has fielded as many as 10 players under 22 to cover for a diabolical early season injury toll.

With so many inexperienced youngsters, Brisbane have lacked the mental toughness at times to win games, leaving them with a 2-6 start to the 2010 campaign.

But Henjak is convinced the tide will turn soon with both halfback Peter Wallace and utility discovery Matt Gillett one week away from returning from injury.

"A lot of people asking questions about why we released players just don't understand the salary cap," Henjak told AAP as he prepared another youthful young side to play Melbourne at AAMI Park on Sunday.

"The salary cap is a bloody difficult thing to manage, as you're seeing with Melbourne.

"We're at a stage where we are having to blood a lot of our young kids and they're going to be our future for a while to come, and I know they will be.

"To manage a salary cap, you need to have good young kids coming through your system."

Chief executive Bruno Cullen backed Henjak, claiming an injury-ripped Brisbane would be similarly placed on the ladder even with foundation coach and six-time premiership winner Wayne Bennett at the helm.

With Shane Webcke, Tonie Carroll, Brad Thorn, Dane Carlaw, Greg Eastwood, David Stagg and Joel Clinton, either retiring or moving on in recent years, Brisbane's leadership stocks have dwindled rapidly, leaving Darren Lockyer, Sam Thaiday and Corey Parker to carry the load.

But Cullen said the club had to make some tough contract calls to retain a number of budding young stars graduating from an elite player development scheme set up by Bennett in 2005.

A number of promising youngsters from the club's under-20 side, hooker Andrew McCullough, utility Alex Glenn, wingers Antonio Winterstein and Jharal Yow Yeh, had to be shown some faith with rival NRL clubs circling.

"Why the hell would we spend all the time and money we have done bringing kids through our elite development system if we are going to keep all the old players so they all end up somewhere else?" Cullen said.

"If we have this system we need to use the kids, though admittedly we have probably used double the number we thought we would and that comes back to injuries.

"I can't say for sure, but I can's see anything having been too much different if Wayne had stayed.

"A lot of the players we got in, we got in under Wayne's leadership and players who have left did so because we couldn't fit them beneath the salary cap.

"There are a couple of standouts we particularly didn't want to lose in Dave Taylor and Ben Hannant, but whether players would have stayed for less? I just don't know that."

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