The Brisbane Broncos are now tossing up whether to offer premiership-winning coach Michael Maguire a new contract, with an added twist — the deal would look more like a regular employee bargain than a fixed-term contract like leading NRL coaches normally get.
The deal, should Maguire accept, would be among the first in the NRL for head coaches and would mean the club can sack him after a short notice period rather than have to pay him out entirely.
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There would also be no ending date on the contract, as with usual full-time deals between employees and employers, but that’s largely being sold as a positive alongside what would inherently be a negative for “Madge.”
Brisbane chairman Karl Morris was the first to suggest the updated coaching deal, selling it as a way to avoid all the speculation that pops up in the NRL media whenever teams struggle. There would still be exit clauses and bonuses attached, but largely it would just be a monthly pay packet.
“I completely understand personal contracts for players. “But in relation to people like Michael and other coaches, we just want to put them on a normal employment contract so we don’t have to have the conversation that we’re having now about … ‘Are we extending his contract?’,” Morris said.
“He should just go onto a normal employment contract, like you, like me, like everyone else,” the stockbroking kingpin added. “In the NRL, there’s this fascination about long-term contracts and people being off-contract.
“I feel for Madge with the stuff he has copped. It’s outrageous. I have a responsibility to Madge, his family and others, for their mental welfare.”
The floated idea comes at the same time that Morris has stood staunchly behind the embattled Broncos coach — and said, despite the idea, that they have no wish to sack him.
“Michael is contracted for next year, and I will say this – we want him to be our long-term coach,” Morris said. “He will be coaching, 100%. Not only next year, but the year after and the year after that. We’re backing Michael. He’s done a wonderful job. He’s brought a premiership to the Broncos.”
He continued: “I’ve not had one director [of the board], I’ve not had one person, raise a single issue. There has not been one conversation, not even a skerrick of a conversation, that he won’t be our long-term coach.”
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The Broncos are now all but wrapped up for the season, with just two dead home-and-away rubbers on the docket before they head into the offseason. They failed to defend their 2025 premiership, and didn’t make finals.
There will then be a “root-and-branch” review into the club and how it can bounce back in 2027, including players, coaches, and systems. The season begins in March next year.
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