Broncos v Dragons, Raiders v Titans, Tigers v Rabbitohs: Live NRL scores, news, SuperCoach analysis

Maroons legend Cooper Cronk has delivered a brutal assessment of Ezra Mam ahead of his NRL return, suggesting that the Broncos should not have picked him, regardless of their injury woes.

Queensland halfback great Cooper Cronk has delivered a candid assessment of Ezra Mam, saying the Broncos pivot should not have been picked for Sunday’s clash against the Dragons.

Cronk, one of the code’s greatest playmakers, believes the controversial Mam should have been made to earn the famous Broncos No.6 jumper with a longer stint in reserve grade.

Mam makes his long-awaited comeback to the big league on Sunday when he runs out against the Dragons at Suncorp Stadium after serving a nine-match ban for his drug-driving indiscretion.

Mam has become one of the most polarising figures in the code – the grand-final pivot was heavily booed when his face appeared on the Suncorp Stadium screen during Magic Round.

The 22-year-old hasn’t played NRL for 288 days and made his return to rugby league with a handy hitout for feeder club Souths Logan last Sunday at Davies Park.

A hamstring injury to incumbent five-eighth Ben Hunt against Souths last week has expedited Mam’s return to the Broncos scrumbase, but Cronk believes coach Michael Maguire should play hardball.

“I’d still have Mam in reserves, whether Ben Hunt’s there or not,” Cronk told this masthead.

“I know the Ben Hunt injury has probably not forced his (Maguire’s) hand but he has brought Ezra Mam back in, and he can be a fit.

“He can easily spark the Broncos back, but I wouldn’t have brought Ezra Mam back in.”

Maroons legend Cooper Cronk believes the Broncos should have kept Ezra Mam in reserve grade for longer. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

During his time in NRL exile, Mam spent time working on a building site.

Banned from driving, he has been relying on lifts from teammates to get to Broncos training or completing 15km round-trip walks from his Brisbane home.

Cronk says keeping Mam in second-tier football would have been another character-building lesson, regardless of Brisbane’s scrumbase injury dilemma.

“I would have kept him in reserve grade in Queensland in the Hostplus Cup and made him earn his right, because I think if there’s a sense of earning everything in the Broncos, I think they’re a very good team,” Cronk said.

“If there’s a sense of it’s just going to happen, I think that could be a downfall for them.

“If I was Michael Maguire, Ezra Mam would be still playing reserve grade for me.”

An injury to Ben Hunt opened the door for Mam to make an early NRL return. Picture: Getty Images

The Broncos go into the Red V clash teetering with a 5-5 record and pressure is building on Maguire to get Brisbane rolling amid speculation of player unrest at Red Hill.

But Cronk insists Maguire is the right coach to break Brisbane’s 19-year premiership drought – just as he did at South Sydney in 2014 after a 43-year title hiatus.

“Yes, he is (the coach to bring a premiership to Brisbane),” Cronk said.

“He needs to get a good balance between that super confident, swagger ‘I can score on any play’, and underpin that with some sort of long-game mentality about tackling to victory and defending the opposition for longer periods.

“If he does that, then absolutely they have all the ingredients to do whatever they want this year and beyond.

“The Broncos are a good team, we’ve seen it. You don’t lose your ability to play football, but sometimes you focus on the wrong things.

“They’ve got firepower, we know that, but if they can underpin that firepower with some high-percentage (completions), some consistency, some hard parts of the game, I think that’s going to make them a much better team.”

Originally published as Broncos v Dragons, Raiders v Titans, Tigers v Rabbitohs: Live NRL scores, news, SuperCoach analysis