Adam Reynolds set to retain Brisbane Broncos captaincy after being labelled ‘front runner’ by coach Michael Maguire
Michael Maguire has been reluctant to single out his favoured captain since taking charge of the Brisbane Broncos, until now. The new coach has revealed his front runner.
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Adam Reynolds is set to retain Brisbane’s captaincy after new coach Michael Maguire declared the incumbent skipper was the “front runner” for the role.
The Broncos wrapped up a three-day pre-season camp on Wednesday where Maguire ran his eye over the club’s prospective leaders.
Since replacing Kevin Walters at Red Hill in October, Maguire has been reluctant to commit to Reynolds retaining the captaincy role he has held since joining the Broncos from South Sydney in 2022.
Origin stars Pat Carrigan and Payne Haas are regarded as potential future leaders while ex-Dragons skipper Ben Hunt’s return to Brisbane gave Maguire another option.
While he is yet to formally announce the make-up of his leadership outfit, Maguire is expected to keep Reynolds in charge.
Maguire could look at introducing vice-captains or a co-captaincy model which could help with a concession plan given Reynolds is expected to retire at the end of this year.
Despite undergoing neck surgery after Christmas and being on restricted duties, Reynolds has been training well and showcased his leadership qualities at the camp.
Maguire said the former Rabbitohs skipper was the standout candidate for Brisbane’s captaincy.
“Adam’s definitely the front runner in that space,” he told SEN on Thursday.
“I’ve got a deep connection with ‘Reyno’ and what we’ve done over the years (winning the 2014 NRL premiership at South Sydney).
“I talk to him a lot about footy and really enjoy that. We’ve been doing that for years.
“I wanted to have a good look at what we have. There’s different styles of how you want to put the leadership together and that’s something we’ve been doing the last couple of months.
“The camp allowed me to really see players in a different environment off the field. That was the big part of what I enjoyed from the camp, being able to mix with the players.
“Sometimes it was just sitting around and having dinner together, being away from the spotlight and together as a group.
“That (captaincy announcement) will come in time but I want to make sure that I give myself and the staff enough time to make sure we get it right because it’s very important.”
The Broncos headed to a secret location west of Brisbane on Monday for their first camp under Maguire.
Details of what took place at the camp have been scarce and the Broncos don’t plan to publicly share any footage of the exercises.
But Maguire said it was a worthwhile experience with less than a month until pre-season trial matches begin.
“It was actually a really good camp,” he said.
“We did various challenging things but it was also about connecting together.
“They were really good. They learnt a lot about each other and we had a focus on the leadership, which every club does.
“The senior players connected with the younger players.
“It was a very beneficial camp. We’ve got to take everything from it.”
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