Weekend Read: Michael Maguire’s challenge to change the culture at Brisbane Broncos

The Brisbane Broncos became soft and complacent after almost winning the grand final in 2023 - Michael Maguire must walk a fine line between putting the club back together and giving it a hard edge, writes BRENT READ.

Michael Maguire officially arrived at Red Hill this week as much more than the Brisbane Broncos new head coach. Maguire is an agent of change. A saviour of sorts.

He isn’t mucking around either.

Maguire had only just got his feet under the desk at Broncos headquarters when it emerged that club legend Allan Langer would take up a new role at the club.

Word out of the Broncos was that Langer wanted to wind back the on-field role he has occupied since retirement, but it was another significant change for a club that is in the throes of one of the most dramatic overhauls in its history.

Maguire has slipped into the hottest seat in rugby league. Forget the Wests Tigers, where years of disappointment have taken their toll and dulled the dreams of their supporters.

Maguire will join a club that expects to contend for a premiership and has a roster that, in the eyes of many, is capable of doing just that.

New Brisbane Broncos coach Michael Maguire. Picture: Zak Simmonds

Even the prospect of losing Ezra Mam for an extended period won’t impinge on the aspirations at the Broncos. Maguire is well aware of what lies in wait and it is the sort of pressure he has coveted for a long time.

He has wanted the Brisbane job for years.

He was interviewed for the role six years ago when officials opted for Anthony Seibold and now he gets his chance with the club battling to restore its reputation as the flagship franchise in the NRL.

Big decisions lie ahead. The sort of calls that can define your legacy. Mam is the most significant but the club is also yet to confirm the contract extension for Reece Walsh, although an announcement must be imminent given a deal was apparently struck some time ago.

Art by Boo Bailey.

Walsh may be the key for the Broncos and Maguire needs to find a way to simultaneously unleash his brilliance and keep his ego in check.

He has trouble brewing in the centres where Kotoni Staggs and Selwyn Cobbo are both entering the final year of their deals. Both can go to market on November 1 and it seems hard to believe the Broncos can keep the pair given their asking price.

More pointedly, it likely isn’t in the club’s best interests to keep both given the impact it could have on their roster.

Maguire needs to find a way to keep Adam Reynolds on the field because he is so influential to their title ambitions.

Reynolds played 43 games in his first two years at the Broncos but only 13 last year. It was no coincidence that their slump coincided with his absence.

Maguire and other officials have spoken at length about the culture and addressed significant concerns with the way it has decayed in recent years - it is understood alcohol was raised as an issue in the review that was conducted at the end of last season.

The Broncos will struggle to retain both (L-R) Selwyn Cobbo and Kotoni Staggs. Picture: Getty Images

The issue has festered for some time. Earlier this year, one of the country’s most successful Olympians addressed the football staff at an off-site where she talked about her spartan existence and unwavering commitment to her sport.

When she left the room, it is understood one of the first issues discussed by the staff was when the players would be allowed to have a drink.

Maguire won’t mind the players having the occasional drink as long as they do their job on and off the field. They will need to earn it.

If they let him and the club down, there will be no quarter spared.

Maguire has a reputation as a hard taskmaster. It is a reputation he hasn’t always enjoyed because it gave the impression he pushed the players too hard.

The Broncos look like a playing group that needs to be pushed. They almost won a grand final and came back soft. They were complacent. As a result, they fell apart.

Maguire’s job is to piece them back together.

* * * * *

Rugby league is headed for a decade of peace. The NRL and its clubs will spend the next 10 years sitting around the campfire, roasting marshmallows and singing kumbaya.

Pull the other one I hear you say, it plays jingle bells.

Yes, the clubs and the NRL have struck a landmark agreement over license agreements which will form the bedrock of a new relationship for the next decade.

But 10 years of peace may be stretching it. The good news is clubs are about to be consulted like never before, resolving one of the major issues between them and Rugby League Central.

An advisory group of three chairs has been formed - the initial trio will be South Sydney’s Nick Pappas, North Queensland’s Lewis Ramsey and Manly’s Scott Penn - to communicate with the NRL on everything from naming rights to expansion to broadcast negotiations.

The clubs will finally get to peer behind the curtain.

ARL Commission Chairman Peter V’landys. Picture: Richard Dobson

They won’t have the right to veto agreements, but they will be taken on the journey and it shapes as a significant step forward in the relationship between the clubs and head office.

The last broadcast negotiations were conducted behind a veil of secrecy amid concerns that sensitive information could be leaked and scupper any agreement.

The clubs still don’t know exactly how much the broadcasters pay the NRL.

That’s about to change as the ARL Commission prepares to intensify its negotiations with broadcasters in an uncertain landscape.

The clubs won’t have a decisive say over where the deal lands, but they will be kept abreast of talks and have the right to convey their thoughts to the ultimate decision-makers.

Importantly, all 17 clubs have been guaranteed their place in the competition for the next decade provided they don’t go broke. Given they now receive more than $17 million in grant money from the NRL, there are no excuses.

The relationship between the NRL and its clubs has been fractious at times in recent years. There have been threats of breakaway competitions and the removal of commissioners.

Those days are over. Rugby league has had a habit of getting in its own way. Tripping over its own feet. Infighting has held the sport back but not any more. There will be the occasional spotfire but the days of the blazing rows have come to an end.

Rugby league has just about devoured rugby union. Next on the menu is the AFL and with peace now in our lifetime, the code is perfectly positioned to take on its biggest rival.

Things are about to get interesting.

Originally published as Weekend Read: Michael Maguire’s challenge to change the culture at Brisbane Broncos