‘Can’t believe it’: NRL great’s incredible rant over Broncos rumour

An NRL great has torn the Broncos to shreds after being left bewildered by a damning rumour that has leaked out of the club.

Greg Alexander has torn the Broncos to shreds as rumours continue to swirl over player unrest under taskmaster coach Michael Maguire.

A miserable loss to Manly on Saturday has left the club’s 2025 campaign on the brink of disaster — and rumblings continue to suggest there are serious problems within the team’s dressing room.

The loss to the Sea Eagles was compounded by the news Payne Haas’ management is shopping the superstar prop around to all NRL clubs, with the possibility the 25-year-old could leave when his contract runs out at the end of 2026.

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While pressure is building on Maguire, the blowtorch is now being turned on the playing group with a number of commentators calling out the lack of effort senior players have produced recently.

Former Dally M medal winner Greg Alexander has now given the most stinging criticism yet, calling players “wusses” over rumours they didn’t like the former Rabbitohs premiership-winning coach’s demanding leadership style.

“Brisbane were that bad. And they have been,” Alexander said on his SEN Sydney breakfast radio show with co-host Andrew Voss.

“They’ve won one game in their last seven. A number of those have been at Suncorp Stadium too. It’s far from a fortress.”

Alexander said it was clear from the loss to the Sea Eagles the club has problems.

“When you look at the first five minutes of that game at Brookvale Oval, in the first set – the first set – Lehi Hopoate bursts through Payne Haas and Kobe Hetherington through the middle,” he said.

The Broncos have lost six of their last seven games. Picture: NRL Images

“Manly go within a whisker of scoring in the first set. In hindsight now you go back and you go, ‘Well that’s how the game continued’. Brisbane have got some problems.”

He said players unhappy about Maguire’s taxing methods do not deserve to be playing football at NRL level.

“Please don’t let me think that the Brisbane players are whingeing because Michael Maguire is too hard on them,” he said.

Using a mock crying motion with his hands rubbing against his eyes, Alexander said: “Cry me a river. You little wusses.

“If that is true, none of them deserve to be playing NRL. Really. Tell me that’s not true. I can’t believe that’s true because I can’t believe senior NRL players would be bitching and whingeing because Michael Maguire keeps them there (at training) too long.”

The Broncos are still without Ben Hunt and Reece Walsh due to injuries, but the team is running our of excuses.

With six losses from their last seven games, the Broncos sit 11th on the ladder and risk letting the season get away from them if they don’t get wins on the board soon.

Melbourne Storm premiership winner Ryan Hoffman, who played under Maguire at Wigan, said Brisbane’s players had to take responsibility for their poor run of results.

“The Broncos weren’t too much of an opposition, to be quite honest,” Hoffman said on ABC’s Offsiders.

“They’ve been extremely disappointing. They showed a lot of promise at the start of the year with their new coach in Michael Maguire taking a harder-nosed stance than his predecessor Kevin Walters.

“He was criticised a bit for not being tough enough to the players. Now Michael Maguire’s been accused of being too tough.

“I don’t think it’s a coaching issue at Brisbane, to be quite honest. I think play to understand that it’s a hard game and they need to harden themselves up because that was a really lacklustre performance from the Broncos last night.

“The rest of the NRL expects the Broncos to be up the top.

“I’ve been coached by Michael Maguire before. I know that he is a successful coach. But you need to buy into what he’s about.

“He’s going to breed a tough football team, but you’ve got to train tough to be tough.

“Look, I’m going to back Michael Maguire in. I think he’s a very good coach. I think he’s what Brisbane Broncos need.

“I think the players themselves need to understand that ‘this is what we need right now, we need to buy into what he’s about’.”

Payne Haas could reportedly leave the Broncos at the end of his contract. (Photo by Brett Hemmings/Getty Images)

Maguire’s coaching style has come into question this season and after Saturday’s loss, he was prickly when asked about Brisbane’s struggles in attack.

“Do you feel like the spark has gone out of the Broncos attack a bit in recent months?” a journalist asked in the post-game press conference.

“What do you mean by that?” Maguire shot back, before adding his side needs to be “smarter” with the ball.

“There are probably times where we’re pushing a pass here and there and that’s what creates pressure back on ourselves,” Maguire said.

“So that’s something that we’re talking about and just need to be better at it.

“The boys are putting in plenty of effort, we just need to focus on the areas of our game that builds pressure on teams. That’s the game.

“I’ve got to grow the team to be able to build pressure. We showed signs but we just have to do it longer, that’s what the teams further up the ladder are doing. When the opportunities come you’ve got to make sure you’re in position to take them. We need to be a bit smarter in that area and it’s something we need to improve on.”

Originally published as ‘Can’t believe it’: NRL great’s incredible rant over Broncos rumour