Michael Maguire continues to shake things up in a bid to change standards and attitude at the NRL club.
Michael Maguire is reportedly keen to use Blake Mozer as his starting hooker at the Brisbane Broncos in 2025, which would come as a crushing new blow for Billy Walters after the sacking of his father Kevin. Billy Walters has been the Broncos’ starting No.9 for the last two seasons, and helped them make the NRL grand final in 2023.
But his form dipped in 2024 and the Broncos crashed to 12th on the ladder – their biggest fall from grace in club history. The Broncos have an embarrassment of riches in the hooking role, with Walters, Mozer, Tyson Smoothy and Cory Paix all on the roster.
And the addition of Ben Hunt will see him switch to No.9 when Ezra Mam returns in the halves after his suspension is finished in Round 10. Maguire has a call to make about who will start the season at hooker, with Hunt expected to line up at No.6 alongside Adam Reynolds.
Complicating matters is the fact Mozer is coming off contract and the Broncos are desperate to retain him, with the 20-year-old tipped to be a State of Origin hooker in waiting. Many believe Walters will start the season in the No.9 jersey with Mozer on the interchange bench.
But the Courier Mail reported on Wednesday that Mozer is in line to start, meaning Walters would be relegated to the bench. If Walters is still out of a starting job by the time Mam is back from suspension, it would see the 30-year-old dumped to Queensland Cup or searching for a new club.
“Blake is developing well,” Maguire told the Courier Mail. “I’ve really enjoyed talking to him about the role of a nine. It’s very important. He is touching the ball more than anyone. The nine dictates a fair bit about how we play. He’s been good with the way he’s gone about his training and learning his craft.”
And speaking to SEN radio on Thursday morning he added: “I’m very spoilt for choice in that department, but that will all sort itself out. They understand that I can only select one or two when you play each weekend, but it’s good fun to watch them at training.”
Billy Walters set for new blow after father Kevin’s axing
Walters’ axing would be a crushing new blow after father Kevin was sacked at the end of last season. Billy had taken criticism of his father and coach particularly hard and quit a role on Triple M radio in Brisbane because of comments that were made on-air.
Tellingly, Broncos players have spoken about how much change Maguire has instilled since taking over from Kevin Walters, with training standards and attitudes given a reboot. Walters let standards slip to a shocking extent, and reporter Michael Chammas declared this week that players “walked all over” the former coach.
Speaking last month, NRL great Scott Sattler defended Billy Walters and said he didn’t want to see him axed. Sattler suggested Paix could be looking for a new club due to his inability to crack first grade on a regular basis.
Billy Walters has played the most amount of first grade at hooker, and a lot of people will say that’s because his dad was the coach,” Sattler said on SEN radio. “But that’s not the case at all. Billy has really improved over the last three years. He was a kid who was playing in the halves at Easts Tigers (in Queensland Cup), and then went down to the Wests Tigers and started to play a lot more hooker, and I think he’s become a very, very capable first grade hooker. So to get rid of Billy, I think you’d be cutting your nose off to spite your face.”
