Newly recruited Rabbitohs star Brandon Smith has delivered a blunt message to Broncos players unhappy with their treatment by coach Michael Maguire: ‘Man up’.
Smith played under Maguire during his tenure at the helm of the Kiwis. The enigmatic forward admitted he, too, had issues with Maguire when he first played under him, but eventually bought in to what he was selling.
“I feel like once we got over the time under Madge, once I and other players got over that and bought into what he was trying to do with us and really bit the bullet and did everything, no complaints, that’s when we started to elevate as a team,” Smith said on The Bye Round podcast.
READ MORE: ‘Significant moment’ as teen freak signs mammoth deal
READ MORE: Tigers poised to cut Galvin loose immediately
READ MORE: ‘Clown’ comment leads to tense Ange v reporter exchange
“Maybe that’s what needs to go on at the Broncos. Maybe a few of them haven’t bought into what Madge is about and instead of seeing what the benefits are you’re looking at the negative side of things and that happens in every rugby league team.
The Broncos are battling to keep their season on track. NRL Photos
“Say you’re training a long day, you’re upset at the coach for that and then you grow this little bit of resentment towards the coach. That happened with me with Madge at the Kiwis.
“It was hard until you grow that little bit but once you finally f—ing go, ‘I’m actually getting paid well to do this … it’s not that hard that I’m going to die. It’s just hard compared to what the norm was’.
“I reckon that’s exactly what’s going on at the Broncos. But that’s just my opinion and I feel like not all of them have bought into what he’s about.”
Smith said all training sessions – including the captain’s runs on game-day eve – were longer and harder under Maguire than any other coach.
Now at the Rabbitohs, Brandon Smith urged Broncos players to “man up”. Getty
“Everything is tailored for you to be hard … he wants people to man up and some people don’t,” he said.
“I’ll be honest, I probably don’t sometimes.”
On Tuesday night, Broncos great Gorden Tallis floated a theory as to why Maguire isn’t likely to face the axe this season, despite the Broncos floundering in an eerily similar position to the one they found themselves in 12 months ago.
After 11 rounds last year, the Broncos were in the eight but Kevin Walters was sacked when their form tailed off and finished two wins outside the playoffs. They currently sit ninth and are sliding into obscurity.
“Why were they off last year? I’ll just ask a question, they had more injuries, but now there’s excuses,” Tallis said on Fox Sports’ NRL 360.
“There shouldn’t be excuses. This is a premiership-winning organisation and it is a premiership-winning roster.”
Tallis suggested the board members who pushed for Maguire’s appointment would be hesitant to see the coach out the door because that would in turn make their decision making look poor for appointing him in the first place.
“They can’t (sack Maguire) because they had this cooked up and this is the guy that they wanted,” Tallis said.
Watch the 2025 NRL premiership live and free on Nine and 9Now.
“Publicly listed company. They sack a guy on Thursday. They put him in on Friday. This is the guy they head-hunted for the job.
“So they can’t now because there will be be egg on their face and their jobs will be under pressure.”
The loss came under a backdrop of unrest within the team, with Marty Taupau splitting with the club last week after ‘liking’ an Instagram post critical of Maguire and his coaching styles.
While not directly addressing the Taupau saga, Smith said the issue within the Broncos must be coming from the players.
“I’m going to put it on the players. You’re complaining about what your coach is teaching you,” Smith said.
“He’s your f—ing coach. He’s your coach for a reason. You’ve got to buy into what his system is.
“If you’ve got half the people buying in and half the people not, your team’s not going to function properly … I don’t know if this is going on but I’m speaking from experience.
“You’ve got half the team complaining about him and you’ve got half the team really excited they’ve got a new coach that wants to win.
“Madge is a f—ing competitor. He hates losing. He’s a hard bastard. He’s an intense man.
“But at the end of the day, his goal aligns with your goal in winning games … his method of winning games is taking the hard route and if you’re not buying into that hard route, you’re not with the team. (That’s) not team mentality.”
“Players, we shouldn’t have any say on what the coach does … if you’re speaking up about that maybe you’re the problem.”
Source link
