Broncos skipper Adam Reynolds has broken his silence on Ben Te’o’s shock resignation as assistant coach as rumours he could join Wayne Bennett and Payne Haas at Souths surfaced.

Te’o quit the Broncos with four years remaining on his deal four games into the 2026 season, after helping guide the Broncos to a drought-breaking title last season as defence coach.

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Reasons for his exit ranged from a bust-up with Michael Maguire before the Storm game over the side’s defensive patterns, to the club blocking his bid to be Billy Slater’s assistant for the Maroons.

Reynolds revealed on Triple M that he was unsure of the specifics behind Te’o’s shock call, but backed him as a wonderful coach with a big future.

“Still a bit in shock, don’t know exactly what went on, but he’s a wonderful coach,” Reynolds said on Triple M.

“A lot of the success we had last season is due to Ben Te’o. We don’t know exactly what goes on or what went on.

“No doubt discussions can become heated at times, but I don’t see that as anything out of the ordinary.

“Obviously it’s a huge loss. He’s a big part of our squad. He’s a big part of our team. A big reason why our defence is the way it is and we are still a bit in shock.

“He’s a great coach and no doubt will be a great coach in the future.”

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Wayne Bennett, Ben Te’o and Adam Reynolds.Source: FOX SPORTS

Braith Anasta put forward a potential landing spot for Te’o under Wayne Bennett at Souths, the club he won a premiership for as a player in 2014.

“What about the rumours of South Sydney?” Anasta said.

“His relationship with Wayne, Payne Haas going there, is that a possible landing spot?”

The Daily Telegraph’s Brent Read believes Te’o ending up at Souths is a possibility, but it won’t be until next season.

“I wouldn’t rule it out, he almost went there a few years ago and I think Ben would be happy to move back to Sydney,” Read said.

“They’ve got a great relationship. He talks to Wayne, so I wouldn’t put a line through that. I don’t think that will happen this year, because their staff’s pretty settled.

“But if there’s changes next year… you wouldn’t be surprised.”

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Anasta played devil’s advocate and asked if Te’o was being impatient in wanting to fast-track his head coaching ambitions and pointed out that the Broncos defence was only seventh best last season despite winning the title.

“So you’re a defensive coach, you can’t just blame it on attitude, it could be their system,” Anasta said.

“They were seventh last year in defence, which is unusual to win a competition with defending seventh best. Normally you’ve got to be top-four or top-five.”

Read interjected: “But I think that’s being really unfair on Ben Te’o.”

But Anasta shot back: “But hang on don’t you think it is being really unfair on Madge too?”

However, Read noted the fact Maguire wanted to keep Te’o is evidence he was doing a good job for the Broncos.

“Madge wanted him to hang around, he couldn’t be doing too bad a job,” Te’o said.

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“This was Ben’s decision. This wasn’t Madge forcing him out the door or calling for his head.

“Ben made this decision and he made it purely because I don’t think he felt like that environment was conducive to him and his coaching future. He didn’t want to be there anymore.”

Read also took issue with the argument of Te’o not being patient in waiting for his head coaching opportunity.

“You said, assistant coaches have got to be patient, but Ben is an ambitious guy and wants to be a head coach one day, there’s no doubt about that,” Read said on NRL 360.

“This has got nothing to do with pursuing a head coaching role. It’s got everything to do with a slow build-up that’s hung over from last season, it carried through the off-season and it got to a point where he didn’t feel like he could be at that footy club anymore.”

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Read put down the Broncos’ poor start to the season defensively as an attitude thing and the buck stops with the head coach.

“Billy Slater wanted him with the Queensland team. Josh Hannay wanted him on the Gold Coast,” Read said.

“He’s obviously got some ability and I would argue that the first couple of weeks, there’s no argument they were poor defensively, but I think that was an attitude thing and that falls on the head coach as much as it does any other coach in that footy organisation.

“You can’t tell me those blokes, the way they played in the first two rounds, the way they defended against Hull KR, that was a technical thing. For me, that was all about attitude and those blokes having the wrong attitude.”

Despite the varying theories on why Te’o left the Broncos, Read put it down to a lack of respect shown to Te’o within the organisation.

“This wasn’t a philosophical difference,” Read said.

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“It isn’t because of a philosophical difference about defence or the way they should play.

“My understanding is about how he was treated, how he was spoken to, how he was respected within the organisation.

“It’s not about Origin and not being able to coach Origin. That’s been talked about ad nauseam. It’s got nothing to do with that. And if it’s got anything to do with it, it’s a very small part of it. It’s about that he didn’t feel like that environment was the right environment for him to be in, to grow as a coach.

“And it got to a point, this tells you how untenable it was, that he walked away. That tells you how bad the situation was.”