Darren Lockyer: Why Brisbane Broncos axed Kevin Walters, hired Michael Maguire

Broncos board member and club legend Darren Lockyer has detailed how Brisbane came to the decision to axe Kevin Walters - and why they hired former NSW Blues coach Michael Maguire.

Michael Maguire and Kevin Walters.

Broncos board member Darren Lockyer has broken his silence on Kevin Walters’ sacking and backed new coach Michael Maguire to be the man to finally break Brisbane’s 19-year premiership drought.

Lockyer was part of the Brisbane executive which rubber-stamped the departure of Walters a fortnight ago - just 12 months after the club legend steered the Broncos to the 2023 NRL decider.

It was a particularly gut-wrenching decision for Lockyer, who won three premierships with Walters as players and was also a member of the Broncos board which sacked his one-time coach Wayne Bennett in 2018.

Lockyer’s former Broncos colleague Gorden Tallis has slammed Brisbane’s termination of Walters, claiming the fallen coach deserved the chance to resurrect the club as a title force in 2025.

But Lockyer explained why a high-level decision was made to part ways with Walters, saying a 12th-placed finish this season wasn’t acceptable for a glamour club with a premiership-quality roster.

Michael Maguire and Kevin Walters.

Incredibly, Walters had one hand on the NRL premiership this time last year before Panthers champion Nathan Cleary scored the 76th-minute try to break Brisbane’s hearts 26-24 in the 2023 decider.

“’Kevvie’ is a great bloke and that’s what makes it so difficult,” Lockyer said.

“It’s not pleasant at all when you have to move on a legend of the game.

“He was also five minutes away from winning the grand final last year if it wasn’t for Nathan Cleary.”

The Broncos will hold their gala annual awards on Thursday night where Brisbane will reflect on a tumultuous 2024 campaign that started with promise but was ultimately marred by injuries and the Walters bombshell.

Lockyer said Brisbane powerbrokers were alarmed by the Broncos’ shock freefall given the slew of stars on their roster headed by Reece Walsh, Ezra Mam, Selwyn Cobbo, Kotoni Staggs, Payne Haas, Pat Carrigan and Adam Reynolds.

Maguire is renowned for his disciplinary style and Lockyer believes the 50-year-old can deliver Brisbane’s first title since 2006 - just as he did at Souths in 2014 when he broke the Rabbitohs’ 43-year premiership hoodoo.

Lockyer said Maguire will extract the best of Brisbane’s stable of superstars.

“This year at the back end of the year the team fell away significantly,” said Lockyer, the most capped player in Broncos history with 355 appearances.

“The call was made based on the playing talent that is there at the Broncos, which there is plenty of.

“We feel that Michael Maguire has some traits that will complement what the Broncos need.”

Brisbane’s executive were impressed with Maguire’s performance over the past 12 months, which included winning titles at representative level for New Zealand and the NSW Origin team.

Maguire has shown he can work with the biggest stars in the game and Broncos skipper Adam Reynolds said there would be no complacency when Brisbane players report for the 2025 pre-season in early November.

Reynolds accepts a spate of injuries weren’t ideal this year but said there were no excuses as he challenged the playing group to respond to Maguire’s methods.

“A big pre-season and training hard is exactly what the club needs,” Reynolds said.

“Reece, myself, all the senior players ... everyone is on board to try and get back to where we know we can be.

“It doesn’t happen through sheer luck, it happens through hard work.

“No doubt a lot of us are going to have a hard look in the mirror and see how we can get better and get back to playing the footy that we know we can next season.

“It’s purely on the players that need to turn up, be ready to work hard and put in a much better season than what we had this year.”

Originally published as Darren Lockyer: Why Brisbane Broncos axed Kevin Walters, hired Michael Maguire