Ben Ikin warns Broncos coach Michael Maguire must adapt or risk being sacked

Former Broncos football boss Ben Ikin has warned coach Michael Maguire must get on the same page with his players, or risk being pushed out the door.

Former Brisbane football boss Ben Ikin says Michael Maguire risks being sacked if the embattled coach can’t find “alignment” with his Broncos stars.

Ikin, the ex-Broncos head of football who helped build the culture that swept Brisbane to the 2023 grand final, spelled out the perform-or-perish scenario for Maguire ahead of Saturday’s must-win derby against the Titans.

Pressure is mounting on Maguire to spark a Red Hill revival following last Saturday night’s 34-6 horror show against Manly which relegated Brisbane to 11th with six losses from their past seven starts.

It’s a far cry from the Ikin-Kevin Walters regimen of 2023, when Brisbane went within four minutes of winning a premiership, two years after the duo joined forces as coach and football boss following the departure of Anthony Seibold.

Ikin left the Broncos two years ago to take up a role as chief executive of the Queensland Rugby League and the QRL boss says if Maguire can’t get cultural buy-in from Brisbane players, the buck stops with him.

“Most people could tell you that Madge’s style is probably a lot different from Kevvie’s,” Ikin told SEN Radio.

Queensland Rugby League CEO Ben Ikin has warned Broncos coach Michael Maguire must get on the same page with the players, or risk being sacked. Picture: Kevin Farmer

“That (current) roster and footy program was built in Kevvie’s image.

“So you bring in someone who is a polar opposite in Madge and it’s going to take a while to adapt.

“There will be players on that list that aren’t Madge-style players, there will be some staff that aren’t aligned to Madge’s style either.

“It wasn’t going to work straight away, which would have been a fluke, so you have to now go through the process.

“I guess it’s a bit Cameron Ciraldo at the Bulldogs, you have to start to build that (team) in Madge’s image, because it’s when you get a critical mass of individual staff and players all going after the same thing in the same way where premierships are borne.

“It’s all about alignment and getting people on the same page.

“They look like a group that is not all on the same page at the moment.

“Here’s the issue: if ‘Madge’ can’t find people that line up with him, then the problem isn’t the people, the problem is Madge.

“Then he will have to think how he adapts _ or he will be the one they push out the door.”

Maguire is one year into a three-year contract, but rumours of player unrest refuse to go away. Picture: Getty Images

Maguire is 12 games into a three-year contract and the premiership coach wants Brisbane players to understand the sacrifices that have made Melbourne and Penrith title-winning teams.

Senior Broncos players Kotoni Staggs and Adam Reynolds came out swinging in support of Maguire on Tuesday, rubbishing reports of a dressing-room revolt at Red Hill.

Asked about Ikin’s sentiments, Maguire agreed the responsibility rests with him to strike a connection with Broncos players in his quest to make Brisbane a consistent premiership force.

“What I have experienced over time is that every group is different,” Maguire told this masthead.

“You are always changing, it’s just getting the right dynamic through these periods.

“At the start of the year, everyone was talking about how good the team was going (after Brisbane flogged the Roosters 50-14 in round one).

“We’ve had a few losses and the surroundings can change.

“When you are at a club like the Broncos, there’s plenty of noise. You have to learn how to deal with these things.

“We just have to get our performances on the field to where I know they can and where the players know they can get to.”

Ikin believes Maguire can bring success to the Broncos, but admits it will take time. Picture: Nigel Hallett

If anyone understands the pressure to perform at the richest club in the league, it is Ikin. He played 55 games across four seasons at the Broncos, teaming with Walters in the halves to steer Brisbane to the 2000 premiership before the pair reunited to spearhead the post-Seibold ‘Kev-olution’ two decades later.

Ikin believes Maguire can get success at a Broncos club still recovering from the termination of Walters.

“At the moment it looks like an organisation that isn’t aligned,” he said. “But they will get that, they just need to be patient, keep grinding and come out the other side.”

Maguire says he isn’t hitting the panic button and has the backing of Broncos bosses to implement the methods he believes wins titles.

“I don’t really get caught up in the noise,” he said.

“I’m fine. I can see where we want to get to and it’s building towards that.

“It’s building a culture that goes through these tough times.

“Being a coach at Brisbane, this period can happen.

“Would I prefer that we aren’t going through this space, yeah I would, but at the end of the day I am getting a good feel of what the enormity of the team means to people and we have to handle these things along the way.

“I have been around a long time now. I understand the game and what the differences of winning and losing can bring to a team.

“We have to stay focused on the path that we set when I first arrived.”

Originally published as Ben Ikin warns Broncos coach Michael Maguire must adapt or risk being sacked