The Broncos have lost four of their last five games and the pressure is piling on the coach.
Martin Taupau could be set to face some tough questions after he appeared to ‘like’ a post questioning Michael Maguire’s training methods at the Brisbane Broncos as the club slumped to yet another loss. Maguire is facing real pressure to turn around the Broncos’ form after capitulating at the hands of the Rabbitohs last week.
Maguire was expected to come in and bring a hard edge to the side, but last week Maroons legend Johnathan Thurston questioned if Maguire had improved the side from last year after losing to the Rabbitohs. The defeat marked their fourth loss in five games.
Maroons coach Billy Slater agreed their were worrying signs embedded in the playing group, which saw them finish outside the top eight last year and sit 10th in 2025 after 10 rounds. And speaking on Instagram, former New Zealand and Wests Tigers player Elijah Taylor detailed some of the brutal methods Maguire introduces as a coach.
Speaking about his under Maguire at the Tigers, Taylor answered questions from fans and claimed there were three reasons why the Broncos may be struggling due to the coach’s ‘intense’ methods. “One, his intensity. I’ve never seen a coach ride the game so hard,” he said in a video to his fans. “After a win, the world is a better place. After a loss, you’re off to a funeral and someone will be getting cooked at the video session.
“Two, training methods. Ninety-five per cent of the time on the field it’s full contact. The hardest pre-season I have ever done is with Michael Maguire. You haven’t done an NRL pre-season until you have done a Michael Maguire pre-season.
“Three, time efficiency. Let’s have a meeting for a meeting for a meeting. I’d get home from training and the kids don’t know who I am anymore…Hardly home.” Taylor played 186 games across stints with the Warriors, Wests Tigers and Penrith during his NRL career.
And in a telling move Taupau appeared to like the video on social media, according to The Courier Mail. The 35-year-old is off contract at the end of the season and could be on his way out of the club. And the latest update might see him have to answer some questions at the Broncos headquarters.
Michael Maguire’s training methods questioned
There was plenty made about Maguire’s gruelling pre-season at the Broncos with the likes of Reece Walsh, Payne Haas and their teammates being put through their strides in a tough ‘military’ style camp ahead of the 2025 season. However, not everyone bought into Maguire’s methods.
Maguire hit back at his critics after reporter Phil Rothfield took aim at the tough pre-season methods. Rothfield claimed players ‘aren’t that happy’ with the methods as he suggested the Broncos could suffer from burn out towards the end of the season.
“I’m worried about the Broncos,” Rothfield said on his Footy Talk podcast. “I think they needed a hard edge but Madge is so hard, so demanding, so. tough. We saw this happen at the Wests Tigers. We saw this happen at Souths. I can see them (the Broncos players) burning out and I’m hearing that the players aren’t that happy.” Broncos great Corey Parker – who spent 16 years at the club – ripped into the notion the players were being pushed too hard and was all for Maguire’s tough love.