Maguire is under the pump after seeing his highly fancied side lose five of their last six games.
NRL legend Brad Fittler says Brisbane’s latest defeat to Souths exposed a major problem for Michael Maguire‘s side, as pressure mounts on the Broncos’ coach after four losses in their last five games. The Broncos were flying earlier in the season but their recent poor form and second-half fade-outs have been a big concern, with fellow league great Johnathan Thurston and former coach Kevin Walters criticising the body language and commitment of Brisbane’s players.
But Fittler says a lack of support play from Maguire’s side really stood out to him in Brisbane’s capitulation against the Rabbitohs. The Broncos led by 14-0 at halftime but conceded 22 unanswered points in the second half to go down to a Latrell Mitchell-inspired Souths.
Mitchell booted an extraordinary two-point field goal from 49 metres to put the Bunnies ahead at the death, before cementing the win with a try that divided the NRL world when he caught Brisbane napping in the last play-the-ball of the game.
However, Fittler pointed out that Brisbane dominated many of the attacking stats and only had themselves to blame for the loss. The Broncos had nine linebreaks to South Sydney’s three and 29 tackle busts to 19 but failed to take advantage. And former Blues coach Fittler said it showed a lack of cohesion and commitment from the Broncos squad, with players consistently failing to back up their teammates during attacking raids.
“One thing that was noticeable when they made a couple of breaks, and they made more linebreaks than Souths, they had the better of the game no doubt,” Fittler said on Nine’s Sunday Footy Show. “(But) every time someone would come through there would only be one supporting player and they’d be five or 10 metres away.
“Payne Haas went through and there wasn’t anyone. There was no one following him. I think when Deine Mariner went through there was no one following him. Adam Reynolds was 10 metres away. If you watch some of those early games… somebody would go through the line (of defence) and there were five or six jerseys pushing through the line. They’re nowhere near the camaraderie or the gel that some of these other teams have got.”
Maroons coach Billy Slater agreed and said Maguire’s side were desperately missing the support play that injured fullback Reece Walsh and the previously suspended Ezra Mam typically offer. “And you think of the two best support players in the Broncos’s squad, it would be Ezra Mam and Reece Walsh,” Slater said. “Now you put both of those guys back into the football team and they’re a different side.
Mam has served his nine-game ban and will almost certainly come back into Brisbane’s starting side in place of injured five-eighth Ben Hunt,if he’s cleared over a high tackle in the Queensland Cup on Sunday. However, Walsh is still expected to be sidelined for at least a couple more weeks, meaning Maguire will need others to step up in this area.
Pressure on Michael Maguire amid ‘problems’ at Broncos
Pressure has ramped up on Maguire and his underperforming Broncos, who many tipped as one of the favourites for the premiership before the season. Maguire was brought in to replace Walters as coach, with a directive to change the Broncos’ culture and give the squad a harder edge. However, Thurston says he’s seeing little evidence of that, with Walters admitting “there is something not quite right” at the Broncos.