{"id":562554,"date":"2026-03-25T04:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T04:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/562554\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T04:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T04:12:12","slug":"ben-teo-quits-as-broncos-assistant-coach-after-michael-maguire-argument-gorden-tallis-comments-reaction-queensland-origin-request-from-billy-slater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/562554\/","title":{"rendered":"Ben Te’o quits as Broncos assistant coach after Michael Maguire argument; Gorden Tallis comments, reaction, Queensland Origin request from Billy Slater"},"content":{"rendered":"

Broncos<\/a> boss Dave Donaghy has revealed the club blocked a request for Ben Te’o to join Queensland’s coaching staff before his bombshell exit from the NRL<\/a> club on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Te’o sensationally quit his assistant coaching job at Brisbane following reports of a verbal altercation with head coach Michael Maguire<\/a> last week.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday it came to light Te’o was also disgruntled by the club refusing to let him help Billy Slater<\/a> coach the Maroons<\/a> during this year’s State of Origin series.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Judiciary hands Dragons star big ban for ugly tackle<\/a><\/p>\n

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READ MORE: Queensland rival to pounce after shock Broncos exit<\/a><\/p>\n

Slater wanted Te’o on board to help with the defence, as he had done at the Broncos on their way to winning last year’s premiership.<\/p>\n

“The thing you need to understand is the NRL is the toughest game in the world. It’s 24 games and 24\/7,” club boss Donaghy told Triple M on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

“We want our staff to experience Origin, but we can’t have too many of them\u2026 we contribute Matt Ballin, [strength coach] Patty Kenny\u2026 that’s a significant contribution. How far do you go?<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/p>\n

Ben Te’o during his playing days at Brisbane.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“We’ve got to prioritise our program and requirements of our staff through the Origin period. It’s a challenge, and there’s always different opportunities that arise for different staff, but we weren’t able to approve that for Ben in this instance.<\/p>\n

“You can’t weaken your program.”<\/p>\n

On Tuesday night club legend Gorden Tallis<\/a> urged the Broncos to bring Allan Langer<\/a> back to the club after Te’o quit his role.<\/p>\n

The reigning premiers were thrown into turmoil once again on Tuesday morning when reports surfaced regarding a heated stoush between Te’o and Maguire.<\/p>\n

Te’o met with Maguire and football boss Troy Thomson on Monday night, but they were unable to patch things up, leading to his departure from the reigning premiers.<\/p>\n

Donaghy attempted to explain the situation at a press conference on Tuesday<\/p>\n

“We’ve had a number of conversations with Ben over the past 24 hours – it was certainly a conversation we didn’t see coming, to be fair,” the CEO said.<\/p>\n

“Ben has tendered his resignation, which we’re working through now in the background.<\/p>\n

“One thing I’ll say is, the conversation with Ben and myself yesterday, that part of it needs to stay private and confidential.<\/p>\n

Watch the 2026 NRL season live and free on Nine and 9Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“Madge and Ben go a long way back, each are feeling how they feel and they have their own emotions and experiences around that.<\/p>\n

“They’ve had some wonderful times together as well, they won a comp together at South Sydney and they won a comp together six months ago at the Broncos.<\/p>\n

“Unfortunately, we find ourselves in this position and we’ll work our way through it.<\/p>\n

“I think it would be fair to say it’s less than ideal to be working through something like this, but it’s the reality of elite sport.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Dave Donaghy speaks to media.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

“From my conversations with Ben and I’ve had a couple of them – as did Madge and Troy – I don’t think it would be fair for any of us to talk on Ben’s behalf.<\/p>\n

“We were shocked and certainly disappointed … sometimes we get to a point where we feel like we should step outside the arena and Ben has decided to do that.”<\/p>\n

Te’o had previously committed to Brisbane’s coaching staff until the end of 2028, but has now walked out just six months after tasting premiership success.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Fox League’s NRL 360, three-time premiership winner Tallis – who has been outspoken regarding Maguire and the club recently – was asked for his thoughts on the matter.<\/p>\n

Tallis then gave his suggestion on where the Broncos needed to look to fill the vacancy.<\/p>\n

“It’s strange, I’m sure not every coach and assistant coach see eye-to-eye on how they’re going and what they’re doing every week,” Tallis said.<\/p>\n

“It’s strange with the success they’ve had that the relationship has split apart.<\/p>\n

\"Gorden<\/p>\n

Gorden Tallis.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

“I’m shocked, he’s just re-signed \u2026 they thought there could have been a dynasty. Four rounds in, he’s decided to leave. I heard Ben is comfortable with his decision.<\/p>\n

“Madge has asked me to come in the four walls and I’ve declined.<\/p>\n

“Allan Langer needs to go back and get in the four walls and get in the blue shirt.<\/p>\n

“There’s no one that brings a side together like Allan Langer and if I was at the Broncos right now, with that playing group vulnerable and blokes leaving with the uncertainty, he’s the guy that’s always held every team together.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Langer was a long-time blue shirt trainer for the Broncos – one of the roles which Te’o had been doing recently – before the champion halfback left the club the end of 2024<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While the pressure has been mounting on Maguire in the midst of a poor start to the campaign, Donaghy threw his support behind the Brisbane coach.<\/p>\n

\"Broncos<\/p>\n

Broncos coach Michael Maguire.\u00a0NRL Imagery<\/p>\n

“Our coach does an incredible job, he busts his backside every day and works incredibly hard,” the Broncos head honcho said.<\/p>\n

“I can’t be any more clear – he’s done a brilliant job for our club, he constantly puts the club first. He’s done an amazing job and we couldn’t have asked for anything more.<\/p>\n

“We know that Madge has been brought in to do a job that he’s doing and he’s supported by some high quality assistant coaches as well.<\/p>\n

“Whilst it’s not ideal [Te’o leaving], we’re very confident in the people we’ve got.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Donaghy said the Broncos would “look inside the organisation first” for a replacement on the coaching staff to join fellow assistants Matt Ballin and Trent Barrett.<\/p>\n

Earlier in the day, Ben Talty and Brendan Piakura were forced into an awkward spot when they fronted cameras and were asked about the departing coach.<\/p>\n

“I saw it on Instagram this morning, I haven’t read too much into it,” Talty said, while Piakura admitted he ‘learned a lot’ from his time working with Te’o.<\/p>\n

The former State of Origin enforcer, who won a premiership with Maguire at South Sydney in 2014, had signed an extension with the Broncos last year.<\/p>\n

He also played 96 first grade games for Brisbane across two stints.<\/p>\n

The news of his departure continues a troublesome period for the Broncos, with the running feud between Tallis and the club dominating headlines<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Broncos boss Dave Donaghy has revealed the club blocked a request for Ben Te’o to join Queensland’s coaching…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562555,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-562554","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nrl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-national-rugby-league","tag-nationalrugbyleague","tag-nrl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562554","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562554"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562554\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562554"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562554"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562554"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}