NRL 2024: Adam Reynolds warns Broncos set for ‘hard truths’ under Michael Maguire

Broncos captain Adam Reynolds has warned his team will have to cop some ‘hard truths’ under new coach Michael Maguire, as the premiership winning duo prepare to reunite.

Champion halfback Adam Reynolds says Michael Maguire will deliver some “hard truths” to the Broncos as the premiership duo look to spearhead Brisbane’s revenge mission next season.

Reynolds is the only player in Brisbane’s current NRL squad to have worked with the new Broncos coach – he and Maguire were key figures in South Sydney’s premiership win in 2014.

In his first season at Souths in 2012, Maguire gave Reynolds his NRL debut and two years later, the coach and his halfback commander broke the Rabbitohs’ 43-year premiership hoodoo.

Now the Maguire-Reynolds alliance could break Brisbane’s 19-year title drought and the veteran playmaker says the premiership coach will leave no stone unturned in the pursuit of excellence at Red Hill.

“Madge is very straight up,” said Reynolds, who fondly recalls being blooded by Maguire as a 21-year-old at Redfern.

Broncos skipper Adam Reynolds has warned his side will have to hear some ‘hard truths’ from new coach Michael Maguire. Picture: Getty Images

“He calls a spade a spade and I think you need those sorts of hard truths when things aren’t going well.

“Anytime any coach hands you your first jersey, whether it’s a club jersey or a representative jersey, you’re always going to remember that coach and have a little soft spot for him.

“I didn’t know too much about Madge at the time. I was a young fella coming into the grade and obviously I had to earn my stripes with him through hard work and nothing comes easy.

“It’s all well and good when things are going easy to keep doing it, but when times are tough, Madge rips in and gets everyone on the same page.”

For the Broncos to hit back as a finals force next season, it’s critical that Reynolds stays on the park after an injury-ravaged 2024 campaign that restricted him to just 13 games.

It was the lowest seasonal output of his decorated 13-season career.

Michael Maguire and Adam Reynolds won a premiership together at the Rabbitohs in 2014. Picture: Getty Images

Maguire remembers Reynolds’ influence in South Sydney’s 2014 premiership charge and is relishing the prospect of rekindling his coach-halfback alliance at the Broncos.

“I’m really looking forward to reuniting with Adam,” he said.

“I remember him when he was a young kid, I’d started at Souths when he was a rookie, he was coming off an injury and he went on and won a comp.

“That’s one thing that Adam has got, he’s got the knowledge of what the top-end looks like.

“I will rely on players like that.

“He was only a young player when I first had him and he’s a senior player now.

“To watch him develop through that period and now see him carry himself as a family man, I love his values about how he loves his kids and I think that plays a big part in a club so I’ll talk to ‘Reyno’ a lot about that.”

Can the Maguire-Reynolds alliance could break Brisbane’s 19-year title drought? Picture: Steve Pohlner

Reynolds concedes there is a sense that the players let down former coach Kevin Walters and admits there are no excuses for Brisbane’s stars as pressure builds on the club to hit back quickly in 2025.

“Unfortunately, we weren’t able to get to the heights that we reached the year before, but that’s not Kevin’s fault. That’s also on us players,” he said.

“As a group we need to have a hard look at ourselves and be honest that we weren’t good enough.

“We have to take ownership, 100 per cent. We’re out there playing the game, not the coach. If we’re not getting results, that’s got to be an onus on the players as well.

“I just feel for Kevvie because he put a lot of great, hard work into the club. I’ve never seen anyone care about the Broncos as much as Kev does. The passion that he shows is pretty special and something that I’ll always try and live up to.

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