Twelve games into Michael Maguire’s much-hyped mission to turn the NRL’s biggest club around, the Broncos may just have another Anthony Seibold situation on their hands. Maguire’s first season at the helm in Brisbane is in danger of sinking without a trace after they have lost six of their past seven matches.His 5-7 record is the same as Seibold’s debut year in 2019 when they stammered, stuttered and spluttered their way to finishing eighth.After just scraping into the playoffs, they were hammered 58-0 by Parramatta in one of the darkest days in club history. More LeagueBuck stops with the coach: Seibold disaster deja vu for Broncos with Maguire hire blowing up in their facesThe rugby league sin bin is ruining too many games – here’s a better optionHow Meninga can Bear dual roles with Kangaroos and Perth expansion teamOrigin II predicted teams – Star forward out for the year after ACL tear, DCE under pressure to keep spotNRL Round 14 Team Lists: Will Dogs rush Galvin in? Blues star out for year, Walsh gives Broncos boost, Knights star bannedLeague Worse was to come the following year when Seibold’s methods failed to sink into a weirdly constructed roster. He fell on his sword seven weeks out from what was the club’s only wooden spoon. For the richest club in the NRL with all the benefits of being the biggest fish in south-east Queensland, anything less than a finals appearance is unacceptable.At the end of last season Kevin Walters was shown the door less than 12 months after they were a few minutes and a Nathan Cleary sidestep away from breaking the premiership drought which stretches all the way back to 2006.The club’s top brass decided Maguire was a better option to get the best out of their star-studded line-up with his reputation of being a hard taskmaster supposedly what was needed to transform their pampered show ponies into rampaging Broncos. But after a summer of evangelical spin coming out of Red Hill from players and officials about his impact, the results have been spectacularly unspectacular. Penrith’s steep descent from premiers to duds has taken some of the attention away from Brisbane’s shortcomings, but after losing four matches in a row, culminating in their limp display to go down 34-6 to Manly on Saturday night, serious questions need to be asked about whether Maguire is indeed the coach to guide them into another era of sustained success.Former Broncos prop Martin Taupau. (Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)Veteran forward Martin Taupau was told his services were no longer required after endorsing fomer Tigers forward Elijah Taylor’s Instagram rant about Maguire’s over the top intensity.He does have premiership pedigree after taking South Sydney all the way in 2014, and even though it was only a little more than a decade ago, there is a case to be made that the NRL game has passed Maguire by as far as his old-school methods being the optimal way to get the best out of the millennial generation.Coaching with the bluster of huffing and puffing at players can work in short, sharp doses at representative level, which is what led Broncos executives to think he was the answer.Maguire’s stocks rose after he inspired the Kiwis to belt the Kangaroos 30-0 in the Pacific Championships two years ago before engineering a State of Origin rise from the dead last year when they swamped the Maroons in the final two games following a heavy defeat in the series opener – the kind of comeback that Lazarus would be proud of, the Biblical figure and Glenn the former Broncos great who was the cornerstone of their 1990s golden era.Brisbane have shown glimpses under Maguire of being a team that could be one of the last two standing on 2025 grand final night. They thumped the Roosters 50-14 in the opening round and the Bulldogs 42-18 six weeks ago and their attack is among the best five or six in the NRL.But their defence is nowhere near up to scratch and they have a tendency to rely on Payne Haas and Patrick Carrigan to do everything in the middle of the field. They have been lucky that both players have been able to suit up for all 12 matches each this season. If either of them are unavailable, the Brisbane pack can be knocked over with a force not much greater than the velocity of feathers in your standard bed pillow. Payne Haas pushes away Scott Drinkwater. (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)There’s been plenty of talk about whether they will re-sign the likes of Kotoni Staggs and Selwyn Cobbo while the decision to nab Ben Hunt from the Dragons on a two-year deal is, like him, not ageing well. Staggs and Cobbo are emblematic of the problem that has permeated Brisbane over the past decade where the club seems to rate some of their own players higher than rivals and overpays to keep them. But some players like Xavier Coates and Tom Dearden have been allowed to leave because the Broncos did not rate them highly enough.Interestingly, there has only been one worse start to a Broncos coaching tenure than Maguire’s reign and that was Walters winning just three times in 2021 when the club was rebuilding from the ruins of the Seibold experiment turning sour.Ivan Henjak, Anthony Griffin and Wayne Bennett at the start of each of his two stints all did better than Maguire’s current predicament which has them wallowing in 11th spot as the NRL enters the midpoint of the season. Broncos coaches after 12 gamesWayne Bennett19887-5Ivan Henjak20098-4Wayne Bennett20159-3Anthony Seibold20195-7Kevin Walters20213-9Michael Maguire20255-7It would be unwise to assume they will click into gear when they host little brother Gold Coast this Saturday with star fullback Reece Walsh due to return from his knee injury.The Titans have had the wood over them in recent seasons with the Broncos winning just twice in their past six encounters in another pointer to them being a team with more style than substance. Maguire has repeatedly said in recent weeks as the losses have piled up that the team needs to play smarter. Well, it’s his job to ensure that happens.He has one of the most intelligent on-field generals in Adam Reynolds to orchestrate his game plan. So the problem is either the players are not following the tactics laid out for them or that the game plan itself is not right for this team in this season. Sports opinion delivered daily function edmWidgetSignupEvent() { window.roarAnalytics.customEvent({ category: ‘EDM’, action: ‘EDM Signup’, label: `Shortcode Widget`, });} Maguire’s years with the Souths after their breakthrough through premiership were a steep drop from champions to first round exit to back-to-back 12th-placed finishes before he was shown the door.His attempt to turn around the Wests Tigers on a three-year deal lasted precisely half that time before he was again told to clean out his office.It is very rare for NRL coaches to get a fourth club to offer them the top gig even if they have a premiership on their resume.Maguire is in a fight to remain relevant at club level and with doubts about the club’s best player in Payne Haas potentially exploring his options, time is running out for him to prove that he can give the Broncos a bang for their buck.
Source: The Roar