Maguire speaks on late-halves shake-up after Penrith loss, MRC make call on Tawha

The Brisbane Broncos endured a frustrating start to their season opener on Friday night, held scoreless in a 26–0 defeat to the Penrith Panthers at Suncorp Stadium.

It was the first time since 2021 that last year's premiers had failed to register a point at their home ground, with discipline, late changes and execution proving costly against the powerhouse Panthers.

Speaking after the match, coach Michael Maguire said the Broncos ultimately crumbled under the sustained pressure applied by Penrith.

“We put so much pressure on ourselves, but that comes from the opposition,” Maguire said.

“They came here and applied pressure, and we had too many errors to be able to put ourselves into a game like that. When you play high-quality teams, you've got to build pressure; we just definitely didn't do that.”

Brisbane's night was defined by a lack of control of the ball.

The Broncos finished with 19 errors and conceded eight penalties, repeatedly handing possession and field position back to the Panthers.

“It's just something we need to make sure we work hard at," he added. "We had uncharacteristic errors. We had drops where they shouldn't be."

“To the credit of our boys, they actually forced a fair few on the opposition too. But where we were turning the ball over, we just put too much pressure on ourselves.”

Adding intrigue before kick-off was Maguire's late tactical switch in the halves.

The coach moved Ben Hunt into the starting five-eighth role, shifting Ezra Mam to the bench.

The change came as a surprise despite Maguire revealing in the press conference that the possibility had been discussed during the week. 

Maguire said the intention was to unleash Mam later in the match once the contest had taken shape.

“We obviously didn't get our start with the way the game rolled; we didn't put them under pressure,” he said.

“We didn't put the fatigue into them, and having 'Ez' come on the way we know he can, he then wasn't able to show himself the way he can play. So, it's part of building a whole game.”

But with Brisbane unable to control possession or build sustained pressure, the plan never materialised. 

Instead, the Panthers dictated the tempo throughout, punishing the Broncos' mistakes and silencing the home crowd.

The MRC has also charged Aublix Tawha with a Grade 1 dangerous contact against Lindsay Smith at the judiciary, requiring him to pay at least $1,800 for the offence.

Now, attention quickly turns to next week's clash against the Parramatta Eels with questions around whether Mam will return to the starting side.