After a patchy 2024, Maguire will be looking to get the most out of Walsh.
According to three Maroons legends, Broncos coach Michael Maguire will get the most out of Reece Walsh this season. One of them even went so far as to say the new coach can lead the team to the grand final. After Maguire’s Origin series victory with the Blues, the club’s intention to replace former coach Kevin Walters with Maguire was initially received with strong resistance in Queensland. Brisbane hasn’t won an NRL premiership since 2006.
As ‘Madge’ works to transform the Broncos’ culture and instill a work ethic that was lacking in 2024—the team finished in 12th place—a large portion of that opinion appears to have changed. The Maroons great Billy Moore says the Brisbane team appears to have a stronger edge going into the new season after Maguire put them through a rigorous preseason that included a military-style camp.
According to the former Maroons lock, Walsh and other Broncos players are ready for the team’s greatest season in a long time, and he believes Maguire will teach the star No. 1 to be more patient. Despite being one of the most dynamic players in the NRL, the fullback has a history of making mistakes after attempting to do too much for Brisbane on the pitch.
However, Moore and fellow Maroons legend Chris Close think Walsh will be able to thrive in 2025 because of the arrival of experienced playmaker Ben Hunt, who will play in the halves with captain Adam Reynolds. Additionally, Close thinks that Maguire’s hiring as coach can turn the Broncos into a contender for the Premiership this season.
Close told The Courier Mail, “The players need to find a combination with Ben Hunt and they need Adam Reynolds to stay on the park.” “I believe they have the coach and the manpower to win the Premiership, but it will be difficult for them if they don’t.”
While acknowledging that Walsh has occasionally been “impetuous,” especially while attacking for the Broncos, Close emphasised that the 22-year-old is still developing and learning how to play. Close has supported Maguire to assist Walsh in utilising his undeniable abilities and managing a significantly better Brisbane team in 2025, stating that the superstar No. 1’s pace and offensive menace cannot be understated.
Michael Maguire wowed QLD greats like Paul Vautin.
Paul ‘Fatty’ Vautin, a Maroons star who recently retired from his long-standing position in Nine’s media, also thinks Maguire has what it takes to help break Brisbane’s protracted premiership drought. After Maguire orchestrated the Blues’ Origin series victory over the Maroons last year, Vautin acknowledges he was proven incorrect. He cited the senior coach’s drought-breaking 2014 premiership with the Rabbitohs as proof of his abilities.
Following his difficulties and subsequent dismissal at the Wests Tigers in 2022, Vautin claimed that Maguire’s success with the Blues demonstrated to him that he was a good coach. “If you don’t have what it takes, rugby league can eat you up and spit you out, but Michael Maguire did well in his first season as an Origin coach and he will improve at the Broncos.” “He will be believed by the players,” Vautin told The Courier Mail.
Brisbane’s players have undoubtedly been embracing Maguire’s new, strict style of management, and representative prop Payne Haas has been gushing about his influence on the team during preseason training. And after applauding his possible shift to prop alongside Haas to accommodate Kobe Hetherington’s anticipated move to lock, another Kangaroos star Patrick Carrigan has also thrown his support behind the new coach and emphasised the “team-first” approach under Maguire.
“I think we’re just playing with a few things at the moment as a club, but I’ll always put this club first and my teammates first and whatever position I have to play, it is what it is,” Carrigan stated on Friday. Kobe has a great deal of talent and could play 13 for any other NRL team. Honestly, we’re both vying for whatever position there is in the forward back. Therefore, the more we work and the more we collaborate, the better off we will both be.”
