Ezra Mam winning the battle of the boos but will fan anger subside against Broncos star
Ezra Mam has been the subject of abuse from opposition fans following his well-publicised car crash and subsequent light punishment, but is the hate starting to subside?
Broncos coach Michael Maguire believes Ezra Mam is winning the battle of the boos and backed the playmaking whizkid to overcome months of abuse to spearhead Brisbane’s premiership charge.
Maguire’s support came as former NRL wonder boy Braith Anasta opened up about his own battle with fan abuse, urging Mam to silence his critics by winning a premiership for the Broncos this season.
The revitalised Mam is Brisbane’s man with the hot hand as the Broncos chase a sixth consecutive victory in Friday night’s clash against the struggling Eels at Suncorp Stadium.
Mam has become the most polarising figure in the game with the 22-year-old routinely booed by rugby league fans at away venues following his drug-driving scandal last October.
Since returning to the NRL after serving a nine-match suspension, Mam has been in sensational form for the Broncos, igniting their charge to the brink of the top four despite savage condemnation from fans.
The Queensland Origin squad member has won five of seven matches this season - including a man-of-the-match mauling of the Bulldogs three weeks ago - and Maguire lauded Mam’s resilience to defy the haters.
“Personally, I get to see everything he goes through,” Maguire said.
“I suppose sometimes you wonder, ‘What does he need to do (to win back the public)?’
“He’s doing that on the footy field and doing that for his own fans.
“It was only two or three weeks ago where we were in a whole lot of bother against Canterbury and he single-handedly got a hold of that game.
“He went to work and came up with some real big plays.”
Maguire stood by Mam when there were calls for Brisbane to rip up his $4 million contract and away supporters will almost certainly turn up the heat on the Broncos No.6 as the sudden-death finals games approach.
But the Broncos coach says Brisbane’s monster membership in excess of 50,000 can help Mam turn the tide of public anti-sentiment.
“One thing I’m really starting to see is that the (Broncos) fans are starting to get pretty loud with Ez being a part of the team,” he said.
“He understands, he’s been through plenty. Like everyone in life, they go through a bit at some stage.
“I think one thing he’s done is to make sure that it (his reformation) is through his actions.
“It’s a good example of what you can do.
“I think our fans will really get behind him and applaud him, because there’s plenty of people here in Brisbane who have been through tough times.
“That’s just one example that allows him to move on.”
Mam has already chalked up 10 try assists and 10 line-break assists from seven games this season, evoking images of his magical season when he scored a hat-trick in Brisbane’s 2023 grand-final loss to Penrith.
Like Mam, former Bulldogs phenom Anasta was once hammered by fans. He was fingered as the face of Canterbury’s salary cap scandal in 2000 before a Rugby League Week poll saw him voted the most overrated player in the game.
Anasta says he struggled to cope with the personal attacks and he offered some advice to Mam — don’t beat yourself up over the fan abuse.
“I do feel for Ezra,” he said.
“You can’t take back time. He has done his time for his mistake and whether people agree with his actions or not, you can’t control the reaction he is going to get from fans.
“The one thing for Ezra is that it isn’t going to go away, but it won’t be there forever either.
“It’s a bit of a tough time for him, but he has shown his resilience already with his performances.
“His game against the Bulldogs when he was being booed was outstanding.
“If you don’t have a strong character and you don’t have resilience, and you get booed like that, you can go to water, but Ezra has shown what he is made of by the way he is playing.
“I am giving this advice to Ezra because personally I struggled with it.
“I took it personally and the worst thing you can do is react and take it to heart.
“He is in the spotlight, he is a superstar and he is going to get analysed, critiqued and criticised for the rest of his life.
“I struggled for years with it, I went through a dull period, then I thought, ‘You know what, I have to deal with this and accept it’ and it made me a stronger player.
“He just has to block it out, not listen to the noise and the better he will be.”
Former NSW and Test pivot Anasta says Mam has the class and mental strength to break Brisbane’s 19-year title drought this season.
“It might not be this year but Ezra can definitely win them a premiership at some point for sure,” said Anasta, who overcame the abuse to win a premiership in 2004.
“They are starting to fire.
“He plays what he sees, he is not overly structured which is a huge positive.
“There’s a lot of halves who are structured these days but Ezra plays on instinct, he has great footwork, he is fast and he is a game breaker.
“He has got X-factor.
“Even in the grand final, when they lost, he scored a hat-trick.
“Ezra Mam is a guy that comes around only once a decade ... this kid is special.”
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