After Michael Maguire took responsibility for Brisbane’s Round 2 loss, is this the solution to rebounding?

Michael Maguire held his cards close to his chest when he took responsibility for Brisbane’s shocking loss to Canberra. One Broncos legend believes he has the answer to Maguire’s problems.

The brakes were pulled on Michael Maguire’s fast start with the Broncos. Picture: David Martinelli

Michael Maguire blamed himself for Brisbane’s shock loss to Canberra as a club legend called for an urgent injection of big man menace.

Broncos great Gorden Tallis has urged coach Maguire to promote Brisbane’s Big W – towering forward Xavier Willison - from the bench to the starting team for Friday’s Suncorp Stadium against the battling North Queensland Cowboys.

Tallis also feels the Broncos need to learn to hang onto the rhythms of a game when they are being outplayed.

“I think there is a problem with their mental ability to hang in games when it does not go in their favour,’’ Tallis said on Triple M.

“They are a really young squad but when it is not going your way you cannot throw the baby out with the bathwater.’’

The Broncos were outmuscled on Saturday by a Canberra pack who played with rare passion to outpoint Brisbane’s decorated duo Payne Haas and Pat Carrigan.

“If Payne Haas and Carrigan get stopped this is going to be (trouble for) the Broncos. Brisbane are lacking a big man in the middle. I know they have Payne but they need a one-two punch.

“Willison needs to start. They need him out there. They are a small pack. Carrigan is not a front-rower’s size. No disrespect to him. He is a great lock.

“When you play against bigger sides for some reason it just takes it out of you.’’

Maguire would not go into specifics but he took a lion’s share of responsibility for the surprise loss.

Gorden Tallis has urged the Broncos to start Xavier Willison. Picture: NRL Imagery

“I will take a fair bit on this one,’’ Maguire said. “I will keep that opinion to myself because I will be able to share it with my players. I will wear a bit around this performance, just around understanding the playing group and getting to know them at a higher level.

“I am learning about the group all the time. I will take responsibility for understanding the group and where I need to go. I learned a lot, I really did. What I did learn, I can chat to the players and go from there.

“It’s good for myself to observe and work with the group now into the season. There was a lot of hype last week, how you deal with that, we have to make sure we look after that together. Because I know we are a very capable group, they haven’t changed, we just got jumped early and they had more energy than what we needed to show.’’

“I’ve really enjoyed coaching this group and I still am because what I know is within the group. I will stay focused on that and work really hard going into next week.’’

Cooper Cronk said of Fox League the Broncos may have placed too much emphasis on scoring points as opposed to “rolling the sleeves up and getting the hard work done.’’

Cronk said while fullback Reece Walsh was the sort of player who would produce the occasional error “you had to take the risk against the reward’’ and hope he would produce the consistency needed.

Originally published as After Michael Maguire took responsibility for Brisbane’s Round 2 loss, is this the solution to rebounding?