NRL 2020: Brisbane Broncos book excerpt revealed as old boys look to recapture club culture
Remember, Broncos fans, when the team was at their best when they were feeding off that great north/south divide vibe. Barry Maranta does, and says a return to that sort of mindset could revive fortunes.
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Broncos founding father Barry Maranta has delivered a timely call for the club to recapture its unified spirit and return to the days when players and officials “left their egos in the car park”.
Maranta, one of four original owners of the club, has penned the foreword to a new book commissioned by the Broncos old boys in which the club’s colourful and successful history will be documented.
It will be given to each new player at the club in the hope of making them aware of their responsibility to respect the club’s standards.
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Already the book has helped to thaw the frosty relationship between the old boys and the club. The Broncos’ once-treasured club culture has been ripped apart by internal feuding and reports of player rifts this season, a far cry from the unity which was one of the club’s greatest assets when it was formed in 1987.
“Simple, yet critical, benchmarks were laid down,” Maranta wrote of the club’s early years.
“Our research of the world’s leading sports franchises spelt out that ‘egos’ were to be shackled, as failed clubs invariably occurred when ‘egos’ were unrestrained.
“This mantra applied equally to all elements of the Broncos organisation – owners, coaching and playing staff, front office personnel, sponsors and corporate groups such as The Thoroughbreds.
“With clear benchmarks thoroughly understood and practised, all those invited into the Broncos collegiate were in no doubt that owners, front office, coaching/playing staff had all left their egos in the car park.”
Maranta believes the Broncos were at their best when they were feeding off an “us against them” vibe which was at its strongest before State of Origin was born in 1980.
“The decade which ushered in the creation of the first Queensland rugby league team to compete in the NSWRL competition – the 1980s – was the most momentous in this state’s history.
“Queensland leaders from all walks of life – political, business, and education – were openly disparaged as country bumpkins capable only of producing mineral wealth and otherwise relying heavily on southern financial and business ‘expertise’. But then came the 1980s.”
As the Broncos face the once thinkable prospect of finishing the season with the wooden spoon and the club’s culture disintegrates under pressure, Maranta has made timely mention of the day when there was a harmonious feel between the football department and the club’s wider administration.
“The football department was left in no doubt that their utmost commitment to training and competing would be matched by an unconditional sphere of loyalty and respect via the ‘front office’ and the owners,” he said.
“Playing/coaching staff could concentrate on their challenges knowing full well that ‘their backs were covered at all times’.
Maranta has previously spotlighted the contrast with how the club surrounded a young Wayne Bennett with experienced mentors such as Jack Gibson with the way recently departed coach Anthony Seibold became isolated during his tenure.
Originally published as NRL 2020: Brisbane Broncos book excerpt revealed as old boys look to recapture club culture