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Changes in frame for struggling Broncos after form takes dive
Joel Gould, AAP • May 19th, 2025 8:30 am
Photo: AAP
Brisbane coach Michael Maguire will mull over whether his faltering side need a personnel overhaul after a fifth loss from six games.
The 30-26 defeat to St George Illawarra on Sunday was a poor display by a side that is making a habit of starting well and then falling off a cliff.
The Broncos led 12-0 against the Dragons at Suncorp Stadium but couldn't get the job done. They even conceded two tries when the opposition was down to 12 men.
Prop Ben Te Kura and hooker Blake Mozer, both 21, are yet to play an NRL match in 2025 and have been plying their craft in the Queensland Cup for Souths Logan.
Te Kura, who impressed in the pre-season trials after playing three NRL games in 2024, had missed just three tackles in his opening seven matches for the Magpies.
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Mozer earned a contract extension earlier in the year until the end of 2027 but has not been given an opportunity.
Maguire was asked whether he would give the duo a chance in round 13 away against Manly after the club's upcoming bye.
"I'll assess where we're at now that we're at a bye," Maguire said.
"It gives me a good look at where we are all at. We'll look at everything."
Maguire has persisted with players who aren't performing and both Te Kura and Mozer are highly rated. The positions of bench hooker Cory Paix and bench prop Fletcher Baker would likely be most under scrutiny if the young guns were given a chance.
The Broncos have been outscored 98-38 in the past six weeks in second halves after dominating or holding their own in most of their first half displays . It explains why Maguire referred to his side as a "Jekyll and Hyde" outfit.
Good, bad and ugly all rolled into one.
"We show such great stuff and then go the other way," Maguire said.
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"When we find the consistency and what we're capable of doing, we know what we can do.
"But ... we all need to really have a good look at second-half starts and things like that. We have got to be better at that."
Captain Adam Reynolds summed up his side's woes perfectly.
"We were good in patches, poor in patches. It's just about trying to find that consistency," Reynolds said.
"It's just concentration. We're just not getting it right at the moment. There's little areas in the game where we're just not good enough.
"We're not sticking to the game plan, coming up with some poor errors and ill-discipline, and when you do that you invite teams into it. They get a bit of a sniff and they're hard to contain. We need to be better consistently."
That's just not good enough from a Broncos side that was tipped to challenge for the title at the start of the year.
They are now in ninth on 10 competition points, just two points ahead of last-placed Gold Coast.
