Michael Maguire press conference after Ben Te’o quits, Brisbane Broncos, Payne Haas contract

Michael Maguire’s patience and restraint was tested on Thursday morning as the Broncos coach was grilled by journalists in the wake of assistant Ben Te’o’s shock exit.

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Broncos chief executive Dave Donaghy confirmed the South Sydney 2014 premiership winner and former Broncos forward handed in his resignation earlier in the week, with multiple reports suggesting it came after a disagreement with coach Maguire.

Specifically, Code Sports reported Maguire and Te’o had a disagreement over defensive tactics prior to Brisbane’s 18-14 comeback win over the Storm.

The club’s decision to block Te’o from taking on a role with Billy Slater in the Origin arena is also said to have played a role.

Maguire was questioned on that and more by journalists on Thursday and didn’t offer much, instead opting to “stick to my line” as he continually referenced the team’s impressive win over Melbourne and the need to build on that performance on Friday against the Dolphins.

“It’s a busy week. Obviously things that I guess you don’t expect to happen,” Maguire said in response to the first question on the matter.

“You’ve got to deal through those and you’ve got to remember you’re dealing with people. That’s the important part here and obviously we’ve got to move forward because we’ve got a big game (on Friday).

“I’ll talk a lot about how important this game is because I felt our second half against Melbourne was the team that I know and I think the team that everyone’s talking about and the reasons why we have these conversations is that they’re able to get out and play to where we know they can and so it was really nice to see the boys in that space.

“We’ve got to back it up now.”

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When asked exactly what he and Te’o disagreed on, Maguire said he was “not going to go into too much conversation” on the subject.

“Look, he submitted his resignation and now we’ve taken that. And that’s all I’m going to talk about,” Maguire added.

He stayed true to that promise throughout the press conference no matter how much journalists prodded for more details, with one reporter asking him directly if he struggles to take advice from his assistants.

“I take advice from many people,” Maguire replied, before making an “honest” coaching admission which stands in contrast to the perception people have of him being controlling.

“I actually really enjoy taking advice from people. I probably do less coaching now than I ever have, to be honest.

“As a young coach, you’re fairly full on and people have probably spoken about that over my journey as a coach but through the journey where I’m at at the moment, I enjoy bringing staff on and people on. So at this present moment, we’ve got to move through into what we face tomorrow night.”

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That same reporter later went directly in on the fact the Broncos will now be without both Te’o and superstar prop Payne Haas at the end of the year, flatly asking Maguire: “What is going on? Is something wrong?”.

But again, to his credit, Maguire didn’t bite.

Instead, he pointed to last week’s win against the Storm as proof the club is far from in crisis.

“Well, the performance that I saw last Friday pretty well determines how I believe you look at a football team,” Maguire said.

“They dug in for each other. They supported each other. Payne Haas came out after halftime when I guess he probably didn’t need to. But it was incredible.

“So it says a lot about where they’re at at the moment. And look, things go on in any organisation. But what we’ve got to recognise is that we go tomorrow night and we play the way we can. We’ll give ourselves a great night. And that’s what we need to focus on.”

Maguire said the club is “not in a rush” to hire a replacement for Te’o, again repeating that all they are focusing on at the moment is the Dolphins on Friday night, and had a similar message when asked how big a loss Te’o would be for the playing group.

“I’m going to keep going back to in this conversation, because we’re still working through things, is that we’ve got a really important game tomorrow night,” Maguire said.

“Everyone plays a part. We’re working through a situation now and we’ve got to make sure that everything’s about what we need to do and perform tomorrow.

“We found our game against Melbourne. To watch the players work hard and be resilient through periods of that game was something there that, well, I believe, is a reflection of my group of players and our group of players.

“So I’m going to respect that. These guys have got a focus now and that’s our next job.”

Overall, even if he continued to dodge any questions about Te’o, Maguire was polite considering the circumstances as he was later asked about reports the club had blocked Te’o from an Origin coaching opportunity and if their relationship had become “unrepairable”.

“I’m going to stick to my line here,” Maguire said.

“I do apologise if you want more, but we’ve got a playing group in there. I’ve got a staff in there. We’ve got a really important game tomorrow night.”

The Broncos face the Dolphins in the Battle of Brisbane on Friday night, with Selwyn Cobbo playing his former teammates for the first time while Haas (shoulder) is unavailable for the defending premiers.

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