{"id":716228,"date":"2026-06-05T05:02:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T05:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/716228\/"},"modified":"2026-06-05T05:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T05:02:11","slug":"nrl-2026-brisbane-broncos-captain-adam-reynolds-says-team-hit-ground-zero-as-coach-michael-maguire-lifts-lid-on-ezra-mam-axing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/716228\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL 2026: Brisbane Broncos captain Adam Reynolds says team hit \u2018ground zero\u2019 as coach Michael Maguire lifts lid on Ezra Mam axing"},"content":{"rendered":"

Broncos<\/a> captain Adam Reynolds<\/a> has admitted the team hit \u201cground zero\u201d after the shock loss to the last-placed Dragons<\/a> but said it forced them to have \u201chonest conversations\u201d.<\/p>\n

And coach Michael Maguire<\/a> said his decision to axe star five-eighth Ezra Mam<\/a> for Saturday night\u2019s clash with the Titans was purely down to form, rather than attitude.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Adam Reynolds and Patrick Carrigan.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

The Broncos are desperate to snap a four-game losing streak and revive their stumbling title defence in the local derby at Suncorp Stadium.<\/p>\n

They head into the round 14 match sitting 11th on the ladder on 12 points \u2013 six points adrift of fourth and four points behind eighth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve obviously done a lot of self-reflecting over the few days after the game,\u201d Reynolds said on Triple M\u2019s The Rush Hour with Dobbo & Elliott.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously not ideal, and not the way we want to be playing our brand of football.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ezra Mam has been dropped by the Broncos.\u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd look, when you hit pretty much ground zero or the bottom, you do a lot of self-reflecting personally about yourself and then about the team, and some honest conversations come out, and I think we\u2019ve reacted in a great way.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no excuses. Obviously our form hasn\u2019t been where it needs to be, and not only the game on the weekend, but the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got such high expectations at the club, and expectations on yourself and one another.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maguire tore strips off his team in the sheds after the loss to St George Illawarra, who ended a 15-game losing streak spanning this season and last year.<\/p>\n

The two-time premiership-winning coach then dropped a major selection statement in shafting Mam to the bench for the Gold Coast clash<\/a> and recalling nine-game rookie Tom Duffy.<\/p>\n

Reynolds admitted Maguire\u2019s ruthless call was a \u201cshock\u201d but said the team must back the coach\u2019s decisions.<\/p>\n

Asked after the captain\u2019s run on Friday about his demotion of Mam, Maguire said \u201cyou make decisions around what you feel is right\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously he\u2019s been going through a bit with his game, and then Tom Duffy\u2019s been playing well,\u201d Maguire said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always been one to, when someone\u2019s performing well, give them an opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is just a moment in time that he [Mam] is going through, and he\u2019s gone back and worked hard at his game. Every player may go through that or will go through that at some stage, so it\u2019s about responding.<\/p>\n

\u201cTommy\u2019s come in and we know what he\u2019s capable of and he brings a lot of energy to the team, so that\u2019s something there that I felt was needed this week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if the axing of Mam was purely form-related, Maguire said: \u201cOnly form, just simple, straight form.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Broncos captain Adam Reynolds has admitted the team hit \u201cground zero\u201d after the shock loss to the last-placed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":716229,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-716228","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\/716228","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=716228"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/716228\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716229"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=716228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=716228"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=716228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}