Nick Wright
Broncos chief Dave Donaghy has explained the NRL club’s decision to knock back the opportunity for Ben Te’o to join the Queensland Maroons fold, saying it was made by the Brisbane hierarchy and not Michael Maguire.
After injecting the hard edge which delivered Brisbane their first premiership in 19 years last season as the mastermind of their defence, Te’o sensationally called time on his Red Hill tenure on Tuesday.
Talks of a heated altercation over team tactics between Te’o and Maguire emerged before the former handed in his resignation. It has since been revealed Te’o was denied the chance to join Billy Slater’s State of Origin coaching staff.
But speaking on Triple M radio, Donaghy said it was a club decision, and one based on the quantity of Brisbane staffers already part of the Maroons camp.
“The thing you need to understand is the NRL is the toughest game in the world. It’s 24 games and 24/7,” Donaghy said.
“We want our staff to experience Origin, but we can’t have too many. We contribute Matt Ballin, [strength coach] Patty Kenny … that’s a significant contribution.
“How far do you go? We’ve got to prioritise our program and requirements of our staff through the Origin period. It’s a challenge, and there’s always different opportunities that arise for different staff, but we weren’t able to approve that for Ben in this instance.”
Donaghy told News Corp “it was a decision made by us as a club, not ‘Madge’.”
Maguire is expected to make a media appearance on Thursday before the Broncos’ battle with the Dolphins on Friday night.
Te’o would have filled the void in Slater’s coaching unit left by Josh Hannay, who vacated his assistant duties upon signing a three-year deal to lead the Titans.
Hannay is also believed to have sought Te’o out to join his Glitter Strip rescue mission, only for the latter to instead extend his Broncos stay upon the club’s title win.
The Titans have leaked 98 points during the opening three rounds heading into their first home clash of the year against the Dragons on Sunday. In contrast, Te’o orchestrated an almost impenetrable defensive wall in the Broncos’ dream run last year, in which they conceded only 10 second-half points in their three finals fixtures.
But Titans captain Tino Fa’asuamaleaui distanced himself from links to the defensive guru, believing the current coaching group had given them the tools to defend better than they had.
“I haven’t looked into it. As much as we haven’t been getting the results, we’ve got a good connection with our coaching staff and that change has been on the back of them” said Fa’asuamaleaui, who has played only one finals game since joining the Gold Coast in 2021.
“I probably crossed paths with him [Te’o] when I was 20 when he was playing for the Broncos, but I haven’t got a clue about that side of things.
“It [our poor defence] has been our discipline, you can see how many six-agains we’ve had … and with the errors, that compounds into our D. Then just winning tackles – that’s what we’re working on today.
“We’ve got someone who cares so much [Hannay] who’s made such big moves at this club in such a short amount of time that you just want to repay them with a win.”
Nick Wright covers sport for Brisbane Times.