Michael Maguire puts Broncos on notice as top 4 aspirations begin to slip away

The Broncos are running out of time and Michael Maguire knows it. The Brisbane coach addresses claims his side doesn’t have the heart or the attacking nouse to be title contenders in 2025.

Michael Maguire has put Broncos stars on notice, admitting time is “running out” for Brisbane to make a title statement as the coach braces for a Wayne Bennett Bunnies ambush on Friday night.

Frustrated at Brisbane’s season of inconsistency, Maguire has challenged his troops to get the club’s premiership assault rolling against a Souths side that can kill off the Broncos’ top-four hopes at Suncorp Stadium.

Maguire was privately fuming at last week’s 22-20 capitulation against Parramatta and Brisbane’s 10-8 record is testament to a side that has yet to convince the Broncos’ class of 2025 can break a 19-year title drought.

In his first season at Brisbane after taking over from Kevin Walters, Maguire famously broke Souths’ 43-year title drought in 2014 and pressure is building on him to reprise his Midas touch at Red Hill.

“If we’re fair dinkum about what the back end of the season is about and what our ambitions are, we need to turn up at our best against Souths,” Maguire said.

Michael Maguire admits time is running out for the Broncos to hit top gear in 2025.

NOW OR NEVER

The Broncos blew a glorious chance to close in on a top-four spot last week when they fell against the Eels, just 24 hours before the fourth-placed Warriors were upset by the Titans in Auckland.

Now sixth, the Broncos remain two wins adrift of the Warriors and a loss to Bennett’s Bunnies will torpedo their top-four aspirations.

Maguire is adamant the Broncos have the roster to challenge for this year’s title, but says the clock is ticking waiting for Brisbane’s juggernaut to click into premiership-winning form.

“I look at our performances and it is frustrating that we are still chasing our best game,” Maguire said.

“We need to find it quickly because we are running out of games to get it right.

“I do believe this team can do something special. I’ve always had belief in this team, but we need to do it more consistently for longer periods of time.

“Our best footy is still ahead of us.”

THE BENNETT AMBUSH

His injury-ravaged Souths team may be equal last, but Bennett has a proven history of orchestrating epic boilovers at his favourite ground - Suncorp Stadium.

Bennett famously toppled the Blues with a second-string Maroons team in the 2020 Origin decider during the Covid-affected series, while two years ago, he shocked the Roosters at Suncorp to record the Dolphins’ first ever win as an expansion franchise.

Now the former Brisbane super coach returns to Suncorp primed to torment Maguire’s side - just as he did in round 10 when a 49-metre Latrell Mitchell field goal inspired a 22-14 upset of the Broncos.

Maguire believes Bennett will be digging into his bag of tricks to lift the Rabbitohs.

“Souths are a tricky opponent, Wayne will be down there tinkering away,” he said.

“Whether you are at the top or the bottom, every game matters because you are playing for our livelihoods.

“There is no easy game in our competition anymore.

“Souths beat us the last time we were down there, so there’s plenty of motivation for us to get this game right.

“Wayne has created his own history and time here (at the Broncos), but this group now, it’s their time to create what they want to.

“There’s always the theatre around Wayne and what he did with previous teams, but all that matters for us now is winning this game.”

SOFT BRONCOS

The Broncos have suffered two woeful losses at home this year to the Eels and Dragons and both teams shone a tactical torch on how to beat Brisbane.

Take them into the trenches. Work the Broncos over in the middle. Apply pressure to their big men and wait for Brisbane to be the victims of their own demise by shifting the ball to the edges in a desperate bid to score points.

There is a view Brisbane lack the midfield mongrel to threaten title contenders Melbourne, Canberra, Canterbury and Penrith. Maguire scoffs at suggestions the Broncos don’t have the forward grunt to win the premiership, but concedes Brisbane need to roll their sleeves up.

Asked if Brisbane are too soft up front, Maguire said: “I think we can be better in that department.

“Look, we have shown we are tough enough a number of times through the year. We’ve beaten the Bulldogs twice.

“If we do it consistently, we will shut everyone up.

“On the weekend, we weren’t prepared to get into the grind. Parramatta earnt the right to win last week. We didn’t.

“We were trying to go around Parra and passing to go around them, rather than playing through them. We made six or seven errors in the second half and they made none.

“You can’t play too cute in the NRL. You have to earn the right and we didn’t do that well enough last week. We’re only as good as our last performance so we have to aim up this week.”

BIG CLUB, BIG EXPECTATIONS

Bookmakers installed the Broncos as third favourites to win the title in pre-season and leading experts believe Brisbane sneaking into the finals this year should still be judged as a failure.

The top-four remains within striking distance. After facing the Rabbitohs, Brisbane’s next two games against the Storm and Dolphins, a Queensland derby blockbuster, will determine if they play finals or miss the top-eight altogether.

As the richest club in the league with an $85 million empire, the Broncos’ annual objective is to make the top four.

Maguire says he feels the expectation to deliver results at a glamour club, just as he did at ‘The Pride of the League’, South Sydney, and implored Brisbane players to find another gear in the run to the finals.

“Our boys have to understand, come on, that’s not good enough,” he said.

“We’re better than that (performance against the Eels).

Eels defenders swarm on Payne Haas. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

“I have to credit the opposition last week because they played a longer game than us and that’s a lesson we can learn from.

“We can still make the top four but we need to just worry about performing and that will sort itself out, where it lands.

“We need to get our performances right. We have patches of playing our best game ... then we go to sleep. You cannot do that in this game and we have to fight towards being better at every time we get an opportunity.

“The Broncos are a big club and the expectations here are higher. But it’s the team, not just me, that demands these things.

“The players understand they have to raise the bar in what we are doing and I’m fortunate we have a group that is hungry to do that.

“We have a lot of Broncos fans at our games and we need to give them what they deserve.”

Originally published as Michael Maguire puts Broncos on notice as top 4 aspirations begin to slip away