Crash: Ezra Mam situation is an opportunity for Michael Maguire to impose tougher standards at Brisbane Broncos

Good luck, Madge. Michael Maguire knew the Broncos coaching position was a big job, and he’s now walking into a monumental situation on his first week in the job - and it could define his tenure at the club.

Good luck Michael Maguire … you’ll need it.

Maguire is the latest Broncos coach poised to become horrendously compromised by the need to give his players the tummy tickling they are used to while enforcing the disciplinary standards which are long overdue.

We see them come. We see them go … coaches who arrive at the Broncos with lofty ideas about player culture only to leave a few years later, ground to sawdust by player power, slipping standards and that that awkward feeling that even though you are supposed to be controlling the destiny of the players, it’s actually the other way round.

If Maguire is the man to snap the trend he will need to be brave, very brave.

Ezra Mam’s Friday night car crash in Brisbane – in which he allegedly was unlicensed and tested positive to a roadside drug test – may become a monumental challenge for Maguire on several fronts if a charge is laid, not the least because it will instantly define the sort of standards he is going to accept at his new club. Presently, police are awaiting the results of further tests, which could take some weeks. Mam could also be issued a breach notice by the NRL if its integrity unit determines he has brought the game into disrepute.

Will we see an unbreakable, standard-setting “Iron Mike’’ or will it be “Aluminium Mike,’’ a man who stood for something but had his standards bent out of shape by the need to put his best side on the paddock?

Michael Maguire has a job on his hands at Brisbane. Picture: Steve Pohlner

Disciplinarian coaches like Maguire often relish the chance to lay down an “I mean business’’ early marker which sets a benchmark for the standards they intend to live by.

So whatever action Maguire, in consultation with the Broncos board, takes against Mam will send out a message one way or the other. If the Broncos board agree to sack Mam from the club (I’ve got this the same odds as West Tigers winning the premiership) it will send a message that enough is enough.

But, if a charge is forthcoming, the sacking option must be on the table. If Maguire goes this route it would be an entirely justifiable move. Short term pain may bring long term gain.

The worry for Maguire is that short term pain may bring long term pain as well.

Brisbane Broncos player Ezra Mam tested positive to a road-side drug test and was hospitalised after being involved in a car crash in Brisbane on Friday night. Picture: Supplied

The reality is Maguire knows the Broncos immediate premiership window has about one season left given Adam Reynolds will retire at the end of next season and the Broncos have no immediate replacement as halfback.

What is clear is that the Broncos are lacking a group of senior players strong enough to set standards and pull other players into line in a Melbourne Storm sort of way.

One of the most compelling passages of Cameron Smith’s autobiography was the story about when he ran into fellow Storm star Jesse Bromwich after Bromwich was busted outside a Canberra nightclub in 2017 using cocaine after an Anzac Test in which he represented New Zealand.

When they saw each other on a flight out of Canberra Smith was so furious with Bromwich he could barely look him in the eye.

Eventually they had a short, sharp exchange when Smith admitted to being beyond angry at Bromwich’s behaviour.

That’s leadership for you. A coach can only do so much. It’s why Melbourne have been at the top of the tree for two decades and why – because the Broncos don’t have this sort of player - they have gone 18 years without winning a premiership.

Recently Mam came home from a Bali holiday with Reece Walsh where they became the subject of an NRL investigation after a punter had a mobile phone damaged and replaced.

Did any senior Broncos player tell Mam to pull his head in?

It is barely worth contemplating what would have happened if someone in the other car had been seriously injured.

Rugby league would have been the least of his problems.

Originally published as Crash: Ezra Mam situation is an opportunity for Michael Maguire to impose tougher standards at Brisbane Broncos