Brisbane Broncos coach Michael Maguire has said his side will be well beaten next week if they produce a similar performance to Saturday night’s 40-6 defeat to the New Zealand Warriors.
The reigning premiers have had an awful season, with Saturday night’s defeat their 15th of the campaign.
Brisbane was blown out of the water early at Lang Park, with the Warriors scoring three quick tries as the Auckland-based side kept the pressure on the Sydney Roosters and Penrith Panthers in the race for the minor premiership.
Maguire has defended his players throughout the 2026 campaign, but after Saturday’s 34-point defeat, where the Broncos never looked in the contest, he let his players know in the post-match press conference that the effort was not up to standard.
“Not good enough, just plain and simple. We won’t want to do that next weekend because we’ll cop the same,” he said.
“It was really disappointing, that one. We’re not playing the style that we know we’ve practised.”
Brisbane faces last year’s minor premier Canberra next week, with the Raiders also having a poor season and out of finals contention.
But on the same day Brisbane struggled to fire, the Raiders produced an upset win over top-four aspirants Cronulla.
Brisbane’s stand-in captain Pat Carrigan was asked by a reporter on Saturday night if it was hard to remain motivated for the remaining matches with finals out of the picture.
But Maguire stepped in and answered.
“I reckon that’s garbage. We’re playing the team next week [Canberra] that’s in the same boat. We’re playing for the Broncos,” Maguire said.
“It’s easy to motivate people when you’re playing for the Broncos. They’re playing for a very good club.
“The boys are playing for the Broncos jersey that they wear. That is not good enough. I normally keep calm at these things. We need to have a good hard look at ourselves.”
Brisbane is still a chance of finishing last this season, if the St George Illawarra Dragons defeat Wests Tigers on Sunday.
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