{"id":868607,"date":"2026-08-26T03:52:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T03:52:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/868607\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T03:52:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T03:52:22","slug":"nrl-news-2026-brisbane-broncos-coach-michael-maguire-prodded-on-reece-walsh-instagram-like-amid-adam-reynolds-retirement-grilling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/868607\/","title":{"rendered":"NRL news 2026: Brisbane Broncos coach Michael Maguire prodded on Reece Walsh Instagram \u2018like\u2019 amid Adam Reynolds retirement grilling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Broncos<\/a> coach Michael Maguire<\/a> spoke to Reece Walsh<\/a> on Wednesday morning about the superstar fullback \u201cliking\u201d an Instagram post<\/a> that was critical of Brisbane\u2019s handling of Adam Reynolds<\/a>\u2032 retirement.<\/p>\n

In his captain\u2019s run press conference later on Wednesday morning, Maguire said to \u201cask them\u201d, referring to his players, when prodded on whether he still had the support of his squad.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Broncos coach Michael Maguire speaking to media on Wednesday.\u00a0Nine<\/p>\n

Maguire was bombarded with questions about the non-selection of Reynolds for a farewell game<\/a> against the Storm<\/a> as he spoke to media at Broncos headquarters.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Reynolds said he wanted to have a Suncorp swansong against the Storm on Thursday night and felt he was fit to play, but was overruled by Maguire and the club\u2019s medical team.<\/p>\n

Reynolds then performed what many perceived to be a baffling backflip on Tuesday, when he fronted media at Broncos headquarters and said it was actually his decision to not play.<\/p>\n

In an 11-minute grilling at the club\u2019s Red Hill base on Wednesday, it was put to Maguire that Marty Taupau was sacked for \u201cliking\u201d a post that was critical of the coach<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In light of that, Maguire was pressed on the Instagram activity of Walsh, who \u201cliked\u201d a Fox Sports post that was critical of how Brisbane had managed the Reynolds situation.<\/p>\n

The Walsh \u201clike\u201d is now deleted.<\/p>\n

\u201cI spoke to Reece this morning. We went through it. Two different scenarios [the Walsh and Taupau situations],\u201d Maguire said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI understand that there\u2019s a \u2018like\u2019 there on social media, but we\u2019ve had that conversation and he realises that social media moves very quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cDifferent circumstances, same sort of incident as you\u2019re discussing, but different.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not going to go into that [the conversation with Walsh]. I\u2019m talking about now; not what\u2019s happened in the past. We move forward now. Reece and I have had that conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maguire was asked if Walsh\u2019s \u201clike\u201d reflected the broader feelings of the playing group about the Reynolds scenario.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone\u2019s got emotion around these scenarios, but no, we\u2019re very transparent,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n

\u201cStraight away, Reece and I spoke. He loves Reyno; we all do. We literally all do.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re moving through moments in time, things like that unfortunately happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"From<\/p>\n

From left: Patrick Carrigan, Adam Reynolds and Reece Walsh celebrates the Broncos\u2019 2025 NRL premiership win.\u00a0NRL Imagery<\/p>\n

Maguire was asked if he still had the backing of his players. He shot back a terse reply.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, you ask them!\u201d the 52-year-old said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMate, I love coaching this team, and they know that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Does Maguire believe he has the support of the playing group?<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I don\u2019t really have to stand here and say that. I know what I\u2019ve got with the group.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to remember, it was 12 months ago when we stood and won the comp.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Reynolds drama deepened when Broncos veteran Ben Hunt<\/a> spoke on 4BC radio on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all pretty shocked, to be fair,\u201d Hunt said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew how hard he\u2019s been pushing the last few weeks … Seeing him get through that full session, we thought for sure he was going to get another run.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s obviously disappointed. We thought he deserved that send-off … but obviously, they\u2019ve all made that decision between them … We\u2019re pretty disappointed that he\u2019s not going be out there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Panthers great Greg Alexander<\/a> weighed in on SEN radio on Wednesday, saying the Broncos had \u201cbotched this completely\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe stories written and comments made were justified,\u201d Alexander added.<\/p>\n

\u201cReynolds didn\u2019t shut it down. He didn\u2019t come out and say, \u2018We decided I wouldn\u2019t get through the game so we decided I wouldn\u2019t play\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cHas he been living under a rock? Why did he not shut it down? He\u2019s opened the door for a pile-on.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have got no idea what is going on up there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maguire and Reynolds go a long way back. Reynolds made his NRL<\/a> debut under \u2018Madge\u2019 at the Rabbitohs as a 21-year-old in 2012. They won a premiership together at South Sydney in 2014, breaking the club\u2019s 43-year title drought.<\/p>\n

Coach and halfback reunited at the Broncos in the summer of 2024-25, when Maguire took charge at Red Hill after the sacking of Kevin Walters<\/a>. Twelve months later, Maguire and Reynolds won a second premiership together<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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

Broncos stars Adam Reynolds (left) and Patrick Carrigan.\u00a0Hannah Peters\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Maguire admitted it hurt him knowing there was a perception that he had denied Reynolds a farewell game.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been an emotional one because I\u2019ve had Reyno in my life for the last 14 years,\u201d the coach said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember when he was a young 18-year-old, and then all of a sudden you get to the end point.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be able to experience the times we\u2019ve had together … He\u2019s a special human. So it\u2019s always emotional when you get to the end of your career.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, I think he\u2019s got everything out of that little body of his. We\u2019d all love to see him keep going. Me personally, I\u2019d love to see him go on forever, because we\u2019ve obviously had some great times in what we\u2019ve done.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut the time came, and he\u2019ll transition into the next part of his life. I\u2019ll always be a part of that, because he\u2019s a great human.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Broncos coach Michael Maguire spoke to Reece Walsh on Wednesday morning about the superstar fullback \u201cliking\u201d an Instagram…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":868608,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[568],"tags":[64,63,761,762,158,85],"class_list":["post-868607","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\/868607","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=868607"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868607\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/868608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868607"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868607"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868607"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}