The Broncos don’t deserve Michael Maguire.
The slop they dished up against the Warriors on Saturday night was an insult to one of rugby league’s greatest coaches.
Less than 12 months after guiding Brisbane to its first premiership in 19 years, Madge has been “rewarded” with a season of mediocrity from his under-performing show ponies.
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The game’s biggest club has been an absolute embarrassment.
Incredibly, they are a still a mathematical chance of picking up the wooden spoon.
Look at their run home and tell me where you see them getting a win.
They play Canberra in Canberra, Melbourne Storm and Canterbury.
I don’t see them winning any of them in their current form.
When’s the last time a team went from first to last in one season?
Injuries have played their part at various stages of the season but the one thing you can control – attitude – has been MIA.
And that’s what will hurt Maguire the most.
He prides himself of preparing teams to compete for the full 80 minutes but this side is flat out competing for eight.
Where’s the fight? Where’s the spirit? Where’s the respect for the coach who gave them the blueprint for success last year.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Madge as filthy as he was in the post-match press conference.
He can handle losing when an effort’s been put in but that was a meek surrender against the Warriors.
If they’re not going to play for the coach then at least play for the badge.
The Broncos have repeatedly told us there are no dramas at the club and, apart from not winning, are a happy unit.
No club is happy when they’re not winning games of football.
I think you can trace their problems back to when Payne Haas declared he was pulling the pin and moving to South Sydney next year.
I know he said it was for family reasons and I’m not going query him on that, but I can’t believe that’s the full reason.
When your most valuable player walks out the door in the prime of his career, you don’t quickly get over the shock and devastation that creates.
As Andrew Johns said last week: “The most damning thing is you have a once-in-a-lifetime player who will be one of the greatest players we’ve seen in a front-rower – Payne Haas – and he’s leaving.
“That’s the one that says to me something’s going on up there.”
I also think Ben Hunt and Adam Reynolds have gone a season too long and Reece Walsh hasn’t lit things up like he did last year.
And then there’s the old premiership hangover.
The hunger to climb that mountain again is just too hard for some blokes.
They’ve waved the white flag on the season.
Madge and the club are adamant he will be at the helm next year and so he should be.
He deserves the chance to put the wrongs of this year right.
Knowing Madge like I do, he will put the players through the off-season from hell to knock any lazy habits out of them.
Something at the Broncos must give – and it won’t be the coach.
AND DON’T GET ME STARTED
NSW has had two victories over Queensland in a month.
The against-the-odds State of Origin win was one thing, now the Maroons have lost the best thing going for them – Billy Slater.
That glasshouse of theirs is in a million pieces.
While the Blues have quickly moved on after Laurie Daley stepped aside – appointing Matt King as coach while having Ivan Cleary waiting in the wings – the Queenslanders are suddenly the ones dealing with instability and speculation.
There have been a heap of names thrown up as Slater’s possible replacement – with Maroons legend Cameron Smith top of the list – but the uncertainty spells good news for NSW.
Those who know Slater well tell me he was one of the most meticulous coaches they have come across.
His attention to detail when it came to a game plan was second to none, as was his intel on every player eligible to play for Queensland.
And he was fully dialled into what Origin means to the people of Queensland – as you would expect from someone who played 31 times for his state.
Best of all, his players held him in such high regard they would bleed for him.
As a proud Blue, I hope they don’t go for Smith.
He is one man who demands the same level of respect as Slater and could slip into the role seamlessly.
Okay, he has no top-level coaching experience but the same could be said of Slater before he took on the role.
But if it’s not to be Smith, then it’s advantage NSW.
Madge pulled the pin and Laurie threw the grenade to ensure the Blues won two of the last three series, while the new Queensland coach will be sitting in the hottest of hot seats from word go.
We’ve got those cane toads just where we want ‘em.
