The ban comes after Brisbane’s stars were accused of acting like rockstars.
Brisbane Broncos coach Michael Maguire has confirmed the club’s ban on Reece Walsh and his teammates training without their shirts on comes down to a $5 million deal with sponsors, Kia. Eyebrows were raised during pre-season training at the Broncos when it emerged that Maguire had brought in a strict new dress code this season that barred players from going shirtless at training.
Under former coach Kevin Walters, star fullback Walsh and his Broncos teammates were often pictured without their shirts on during training sessions in the sweltering Brisbane heat, but Maguire has put a stop to it ahead of the new season. There was a sense the shirtless look tied into the ‘rockstar’ culture that Brisbane’s biggest stars have been accused of and Maguire has been brought in to stamp out.
The Broncos suffered the biggest fall from grace in the club’s history last season when they finished 12th after making the grand final the previous year. It saw the standards at the club come widely questioned by critics and led to suggestions that the over-inflated egos of some of the team’s most high-profile players had become detrimental to the team’s performances.
Maguire has made it clear that he won’t stand for any of that after taking over from former coach Walters ahead of the upcoming season. And the veteran mentor already looks to have stamped his mark on the squad with a gruelling pre-season based around fitness, hard work and accountability, with Maguire putting his troops through a military-style pre-season camp that’s helped give them a harder-looking edge, according to many good judges such as Maroons great Billy Moore.
Broncos ban comes down to $5 million KIA sponsorship
As well as banning the players from going shirtless, Maguire has told his troops they’re required to wear club gear at official functions, rather than street clothes. But in a wide-ranging interview with The Courier Mail’s Peter Badel, the Brisbane coach revealed his strict edict essentially comes down to the club’s $5 million deal with major sponsor, Kia, whose logo appears on the club’s training strips and official polo shirts.
“It’s not so much the no shirts, but it’s more about appreciating our sponsors,” Maguire told The Courier Mail. “We have great sponsors who put a lot of money into this club so we have to respect that. That’s part of why you wear your gear and should be proud to wear our gear. We should be proud to have that Broncos badge on our chest, but it’s also acknowledging the sponsors that put money into the team, respecting their brands as well.”
Former Broncos winger Denan Kemp revealed there was a similar edict in place when played for the club between 2006 and 2007 under Wayne Bennett. The master coach is a similarly ‘old-school’ style mentor like Maguire and used to insist that Brisbane’s players kept their shirts on at training too.
“Back in those days we actually did have a shirt (off) ban as well,” Kemp told SEN radio in December. “So maybe [Maguire] has gone deep into the research archives to see what was working back then. We also weren’t allowed music in the gym. That changed with different generations but initially it was like that.”
Kemp pointed out that Maguire has been using the old gym across the road from Broncos headquarters, rather than the state-of-the-art new one at Red Hill. It’s understood Maguire’s changes are designed around getting the club back to its hard-working and humble roots and for the players to buy into his team-first culture.
Maguire has pointed to four-time defending premiers Penrith and the Melbourne Storm as the two clubs leading the way in the NRL and says the “connection” their players share is something he’s eager to instil at Brisbane. He says in order to return to finals footy in 2025 – and potentially win a first NRL premiership since 2006 – Brisbane’s players need to learn how to work for one another on the field and be prepared to shed blood, sweat and tears together out on the field.
