Broncos boss Michael Maguire is a proven winner having won titles with three different teams, but the question remains can his tough style make him a long-term coach with a club?

Maguire led the Broncos to a drought-breaking first title in 19 years last season, but how much of the credit should go to him and how much should go to the work of his predecessor Kevin Walters and his staff, who built the squad?

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Was Madge the man that instilled the belief and work ethic in the players to go all the way or was he the final 10 per cent they needed to achieve NRL glory?

Maguire has been a winner at almost every coaching job he has had. He started as an assistant under Craig Bellamy, before moving to the Super League with Wigan for his first head coaching gig in 2010.

There he won 53 of his 70 games in charge for a win percentage of 76, including a drought-breaking first Super League title in 10 years with victory over St Helens in 2010.

He then moved to the Rabbitohs in 2012, winning 85 of his 153 games at the helm at 56 per cent, including a drought-breaking first title in 43 years in 2014.

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Michael Maguire won a Super League title with Wigan in 2010.Source: Getty Images

However, despite a strong 2015 campaign, poor seasons in 2016 and 2017 saw Maguire sacked with two years remaining on his Souths deal.

After a year out of the NRL coaching game, Maguire returned to coach the Tigers in 2019, but managed just 29 wins from 80 games at 36 per cent, before being sacked halfway through the 2022 season.

Over the next two years, Maguire coached New Zealand to 12 wins from 18 games at 67 per cent, including a World Cup semi-final loss to Australia in 2022 and a 30-0 victory over the Kangaroos to clinch the 2023 Pacific Championship title.

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He then coached the Blues to a 2-1 State of Origins series win in his one and only campaign in 2024, before cutting short his two-year deal to take up the Broncos gig, after Walters was sacked.

Maguire signed a three-year deal with the Broncos, going on to win 18 of his 27 games last season for a win percentage of 67, including three comeback victories in the finals to clinch the title with a 26-22 victory over the Storm in the Grand Final.

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Maguire won a title with Souths in 2014.Source: AAP

To date Maguire’s longest tenure as coach was the six years he spent at South Sydney and the longest he has stayed at a club after winning a title is just three years, also at the Rabbitohs.

So can Maguire join the likes of his mentor at the Storm in Bellamy and coach the Broncos for the next decade? Can he go back-to-back in 2026 and earn an extension beyond his Broncos deal that expires in 2027?

Or is his best chance at another title going to a new team and trying to take them that extra mile to win a competition, before moving on to greener pastures?

Or does he have to change his ways to be a long-term coach at the Broncos, after his best player Payne Haas confirmed he will leave the club just two years into Maguire’s tenure at the end of this season?

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Braith Anasta has been a vocal supporter of Maguire and his hard line approach, which resulted in the 2025 premiership win, but even he questions if Madge needs to change to be a long-term boss at the Broncos.

“Madge I’ve been a big fan of and still am,” Anasta said on the Kayo NRL podcast.

“I talked him up all last year, pushed back on Buzz (Rothfield) and the spew buckets.

“But does Madge have to change his ways and does he have the ability to do that?”

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Maguire had a torrid time at the helm of the tigers before being sacked in 2022.Source: Supplied

The Daily Telegraph’s Michael Carayannis pointed out that Maguire would be loathe to change a style that has been so successful at all but one of his clubs, and that history shows clearly works.

“If you are Madge and you sit there and you’ve gone, I won a comp at Wigan, I won a comp at Souths, I won a Test Series for New Zealand, I won an Origin Shield and I have won another premiership with the Broncos,” Carayannis said.

“Why are you changing? Because in Madge’s mind, you’re sitting there going, no, I don’t need to change because it works. Everyone else around me may need to change.”

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However, Carayannis conceded that Maguire’s style, while effective and proven to win titles, does grow tired on the playing group over time.

“It does wear thin,” Carayannis said of Maguire’s ruthless approach.

“His coaching style wears thin. He’s a really good person, but his ability to wear players down, I think it’s ingrained in him.

“He’s softer than what he was at Souths no doubt, but that edge will always be there and I don’t think he’s capable of changing fundamentally the way he is.”

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Maguire led the Kiwis to the 2023 Pacific Championship title.Source: Getty Images

Anasta pointed out that career coaches like Bellamy, Robinson and Bennett are able to evolve with the times to survive and thrive across different eras, suggesting Maguire may have to learn to be more “versatile” should his current approach not work.

“I think as a modern-day great coach, you’ve got to be versatile and you’ve got to be able to change your ways,” Anasta said.

“And you see all the coaches that have the longevity and success are normally the guys that are a people person and man managers.

“Generations change we know that. It’s all different now than it was when I played, so I actually think that he just needs to be subtle with his changes.”

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Anasta used the example of his coach at the Roosters Brian Smith as someone who refused to change and cost himself multiple premierships.

Smith coached 354 wins from 679 games for the Steelers, Hull FC, Dragons, Bradford, Eels, Knights, Roosters and Wakefield from 1984 to 2016.

But despite making multiple Grand Finals, he holds the unwanted record of coaching the most amount of games without ever winning a premiership.

Maguire led the Blues to the 2024 Origin series win.Source: Supplied

Smith coached the Roosters, who were captained by Anasta to an 8-6 half-time lead in the 2010 Grand Final, but Wayne Bennett’s Dragons blew them off the park in the second to win 32-8.

“He didn’t change,” Anasta said of Smith.

“He couldn’t change. How many grand finals did he get to and he couldn’t win?

“And it was just like, what is it? And I actually rate Brian as one of the best coaches, if not the best strategy-wise or in terms of rugby league DNA, he was incredible.

“But he had parts that, as a captain playing underneath him and his relationship with the players, I’d go to him and say, mate, you’ve got to stop doing this, or I think you should handle this player different to that player.

“And unfortunately, Smith couldn’t change that and in the end, it was his undoing.”

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Haas’ shock defection to Bennett’s Rabbitohs has raised questions over whether he has already grown tired of Maguire’s brutal training regime.

Haas insisted this was not the case and Maguire said as much too, with it instead reported to be a matter of the Broncos superstar putting family before anything else.

Either way, Anasta believes Maguire needs to treat certain players differently in order to keep his title winning squad together long-term, and ultimately keep his job.

“We don’t know how he coaches,” Anasta said.

Maguire is a ruthless trainer.Source: Supplied

“We’re not inside the four walls, but you’ve got to look after your leaders. You’ve got to look after the guys that are rep players that have got a lot of kilometres in their legs throughout the season.

“You’ve got to treat some players different to others. You can flog your young blokes because that’s a part of coming through the grades. You’ve got to earn your right to play first grade.

“But I think at some point, for Madge’s benefit, he may need to change.

“And I’m not putting this on Madge that Payne’s leaving. But we do hear a lot about it nd it’s not a coincidence.”

The fact that Haas joined the Rabbitohs on similar money to what the Broncos were offering set off alarms over Maguire’s style of coaching potentially being a factor in his defection.

“It’s because of the way Payne’s left as well,” Carayannis said.

“If it was a $1.8 million deal from Souths and you go, they have been gazumped, you can understand.

Did Payne Haas’ Souths defection have anything to do with Maguire’s style?Source: The Courier Mail

“But I honestly feel like he’ll be the first coach to win three comps with three different clubs.

“He’s the bloke that if I’m at a club, and I think my team’s 90 per cent there, he’s the guy to get you that 10 per cent.

“If I’m a bottom four club, I’m not going near him because he’s a premiership window coach. He’s proven that. He’s a guy that can come in and do a job.

“He’s a gun for hire, which is crazy to think. The bloke just won a comp last year. But if I’m Brisbane, I may not re-sign him.”

Pressed on whether Maguire can change enough to win back-to-back titles and coach the Broncos for the next decade at least, Carayannis was not convinced even if he conceded it is “absurd” to be questioning Maguire’s coaching style after winning a premiership.

“I just don’t think he can (change),” Carayannis said.

Can Maguire be a long-term coach of the Broncos?Source: Getty Images

“I think Madge is an elite coach. He’s different to Craig Bellamy. He’s different to Wayne Bennett. I don’t think he’s like Trent Robinson.

“He’s not a guy that can do 10 years at a club. I just don’t think he’s that sort of coach.”

However, Anasta countered that if the Broncos go back-to-back, Maguire has the coaching job at the club for as long as he wants it.

“I can tell you one thing, if they go back-to-back, he’s not getting sacked,” Anasta said.

“Who would sack him? They’ll re-sign him. Wouldn’t that be a story?”