Broncos coaches keep copping the blame but players aren’t cutting it

Anthony Seibold was allegedly too sophisticated. Kevin Walters too soft. Michael Maguire too hard. At what point do we accept Broncos players are the product of a life which cushions their every move?

Precisely what sort of coach is suited to getting the best out of the cringingly underperforming Broncos?

Anthony Seibold was allegedly too sophisticated. Kevin Walters too soft. Michael Maguire too hard.

If they hired Albert Einstein, he would be too smart. George Clooney too good looking. Robbie Williams too much of a showman.

At what point do we accept that the players, who have had a hugely decisive say in the downfall of their coaches, are a product of the soft life around them which cushions their every move.

It’s a life which has given them a whopping 14 home games this ­season and the best facilities in the game.

Adam Reynolds and Ezra Mam after the Broncos’ loss. Picture: NRL Photos

A life which lets players live on the Gold Coast even though the club insisted it would make everyone move to Brisbane.

But this life is also one of the reasons they play at times like millionaires rather than your local tradie desperate to earn a quid.

When former trainer Mark “Chopper’’ Burgess last year pointed out the Broncos won six premierships out of the old, rustic Gilbert Park gym and none out of the magnificent new centre “which has mirrors everywhere’’, people accused him of being outdated and bitter.

But how has he been proved wrong?

Michael Maguire talks to the media after Brisbane’s defeat. Picture: NRL photos

The Broncos have the talent and time to turn this season around – but something is missing.

The team always seems to be trying to find the next magic play. The Broncos snatch at it. They made 10 errors on Sunday to the Dragons’ four.

That was the single most telling stat of the day.

The Dragons outsmarted Brisbane by playing Rugby League For Dummies.

Nothing too fancy. Just keep the error rate down. Send the big boys up the middle. Pin them back and sweat on them overplaying their hand.

Let the pressure bubble away until the lid pops off the saucepan.

In a way it’s an insulting plan because it's a bald-faced slap in the face for Brisbane, basically suggesting “you blokes just don’t like the arm wrestle”.

But it works, especially now that Brisbane is feeling the pressure of five losses in its last six games.

The competition’s finest teams like the Storm and now the Bulldogs strap themselves in for the 80 minutes and ride the rhythms of a game like a surfer bobbing about on a fractious wave.

The Broncos don’t have the patience or humility to do this. They are too excitable and confident.

Maguire has some serious thinking to do about his squad. Players like Kobe Hetherington and Brendan Piakura seem overrated.

The worry for Brisbane is that Payne Haas and Pat Carrigan rack up 150-odd running metres every week yet the Broncos have won one of their last six.

That’s a deep concern.

If your killer punch isn’t getting you wins, then what will?

Ezra Mam was superb in his comeback match but even that could not ignite a winning flame.

The single most confusing thing about the Broncos’ second-half fade-outs is that this was the year when they were supposed to be ­fitter than they had ever been.

We watched them vomit into buckets pre-season and felt they would have the cement-like exterior they lacked last year.

But it’s not there.

It seems one of two things have happened.

They are either burnt out or it’s mental … and both conditions are difficult to fix.