{"id":802180,"date":"2026-07-15T16:35:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T16:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/802180\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T16:35:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T16:35:13","slug":"nrl-news-2026-michael-maguire-press-conference-brisbane-broncos-karmichael-hunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/802180\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2026: Michael Maguire press conference Brisbane Broncos; Karmichael Hunt"},"content":{"rendered":"

Broncos<\/a> coach Michael Maguire<\/a> dismissed claims the team needs its own reserve grade side, after reports he was involved in a heated discussion with Souths Logan Magpies Queensland Cup<\/a> coach Karmichael Hunt<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday morning, Maguire responded to reports that he and Hunt were involved in an argument over the weekend about how Billy Walters should have been used during a Queensland Cup match.<\/p>\n

\"Maguire<\/p>\n

Maguire speaks to reporters on Wednesday.\u00a0Brisbane Broncos<\/p>\n

Walters has been named as the 20th man for this week\u2019s NRL clash against Penrith<\/a>, marking his return since rupturing his ACL late last season.<\/p>\n

Hunt played down the interaction with Maguire, while the Broncos coach rejected suggestions the team needs its own Queensland Cup side, to avoid dealing with three different feeder clubs.<\/p>\n

The Broncos send their second-tier players to Queensland Cup feeder clubs Burleigh Bears, Souths Logan Magpies and Wynnum Manly Seagulls.<\/p>\n

Maguire said he has no problem dealing with different coaches.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know you\u2019re probably alluding to what was discussed yesterday but we work really well with the affiliate clubs,\u201d Maguire told reporters.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving your own team is handy at times as well, but I\u2019ve found the three coaches that I work with (are) exceptional.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be able to have that relationship with them about what you need to do with players is all in the best interests of your players.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hunt, Matthew Head (Wynnum) and Luke Burt (Burleigh) are the coaches Maguire deals with when assessing which players to elevate to the NRL team.<\/p>\n

He said he supports the current system in place.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt helps the players, being able to play together, but our model, as shown last year, works and whatever way they go, I\u2019ll be happy with,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s understood Maguire and Hunt had opposing views on how Billy Walters should be deployed on the field during South Logan Magpies\u2019 QCup match against the Brisbane Tigers.<\/p>\n

\"Karmichael<\/p>\n

Broncos great Karmichael Hunt.\u00a0nna\\cdesilva<\/p>\n

Reports stated Maguire had a problem with Hunt playing Walters at five-eighth after an injury hit the Souths Logan team.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s understood Maguire exited his car and shouted to Hunt about the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey wanted Billy to play No.9 and then the halfback or fullback got injured and they moved him back (to the halves),\u201d Gorden Tallis<\/a> said on NRL 360.<\/p>\n

\u201cMadge was there and jumped out of his car. I think there were words, but (I\u2019m not sure).\u201d<\/p>\n

The Broncos sit 14th on the NRL ladder and Maguire is feeling the heat as his side fights to play finals, a year after winning the premiership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Broncos coach Michael Maguire dismissed claims the team needs its own reserve grade side, after reports he was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":802181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-802180","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\/802180","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=802180"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/802180\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/802181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=802180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=802180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=802180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}