{"id":760804,"date":"2026-06-26T04:22:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T04:22:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/760804\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T04:22:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T04:22:11","slug":"nrl-news-2026-brisbane-broncos-premiership-window-closed-says-andrew-johns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/760804\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2026: Brisbane Broncos premiership window closed says Andrew Johns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Andrew Johns<\/a> says the Broncos<\/a>\u2032 premiership window is closed for \u201ca while\u201d and that Michael Maguire<\/a>\u2019s men \u201chave no chance\u201d of making the finals this year.<\/p>\n

The lack of optimism around the Broncos has been lingering for some time this season, with last year\u2019s premiers on a six-match losing streak going into Friday night\u2019s clash with the Roosters<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"It\u2019s<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a tough road ahead for the Broncos.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

That makes them just the third defending premiers since 1954 (grand final era) to lose that many games in a row.<\/p>\n

While some supporters hang on to hope the team will make a late run like they did last year, the numbers just don\u2019t back it up.<\/p>\n

Maguire\u2019s team can mathematically make the finals, but to make the top eight they need to win the majority of their remaining 10 games, and will have to rely on other teams dropping points to close the gap on the top eight.<\/p>\n

The Broncos are close to the bottom of every statistical category this season, with Johns pointing to a combination of issues that have cruelled their chances this year.<\/p>\n

Brisbane averages the fewest run and post contact metres this season, and are ranked bottom three in offloads, tackle busts and line breaks.<\/p>\n

They\u2019re top five for penalties conceded, handling errors and average the fewest dummy-half runs of any team. They\u2019re also bottom five for tries conceded and metres conceded.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are excuses, injuries,\u201d Johns said on Wide World of Sports\u2019 Immortal Behaviour<\/a>. \u201cI don\u2019t know how many games they\u2019ve played together. It seems like one or the other\u2019s been out.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd you can\u2019t get away from their ageing spine with Adam Reynolds<\/a> and also Ben Hunt<\/a>, who\u2019s sort of in and out with injuries with soft tissues.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the injuries, they just cannot get any combinations going and then with losses comes lack of confidence comes internal pressure, more external pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johns said he\u2019d seen a similar situation unfold after winning premierships in Newcastle<\/a>, where there might have been too many \u201cpats on the back\u201d, softening the team\u2019s desire for 2026.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne team town. All off-season, pats on the back, you just drop your efforts five per cent and collectively as a club or as a team, everyone drops a little bit, it just goes to show that,\u201d Johns said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you\u2019d think a superpower like Brisbane would have enough depth to get around that, but it\u2019s been very disappointing.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the attacking footy we\u2019ve seen and the high scores with the changes to the rules and six agains – the Broncos have really been the opposite.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo far they\u2019ve scored 281 points, they\u2019re 15th. This time last year they were fourth, they\u2019d scored 372.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Broncos face the Sharks<\/a>, Panthers<\/a>, Cowboys<\/a>, Knights, Dolphins<\/a> and Warriors<\/a> in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

Looking past this season, the Broncos face plenty of uncertainty.<\/p>\n

With Payne Haas\u2019 move to Souths and Adam Reynolds retiring, along with the additions of Jonah Pezet and Mitch Barnett, there are still questions hovering over the long-term success of the team, according to Johns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re gonna have an all-new halfback in Jonah Pezet. Jonah had hamstring problems this year,\u201d Johns said. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s missed a lot of footy, he\u2019s only played a handful of games, and they were both on either leg.<\/p>\n

\u201cMitch Barnett will be a really good signing for him. But I can\u2019t see them winning it next year without Payne and also Adam Reynolds, it\u2019s gonna affect them.<\/p>\n

\u201cPezet is untried, week in, week out, we all know he\u2019s got great potential, and he showed that in some games he\u2019s played, but week in, week out, it\u2019s still an unknown.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of what ifs with the Broncos, they need a big off-season.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Andrew Johns says the Broncos\u2032 premiership window is closed for \u201ca while\u201d and that Michael Maguire\u2019s men \u201chave…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":760805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-760804","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\/760804","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=760804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/760804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/760805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=760804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=760804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=760804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}