With prodigal son Ben Hunt back in Brisbane and Michael Maguire taking the clipboard off Kevin Walters, the Broncos are plotting a return to the pointy end of the ladder in 2025.
IF A week is a long time in rugby league, a year is an eternity.
Rewind 12 months and Ben Hunt was plying his trade for St George Illawarra, Michael Maguire was preparing to coach New South Wales for the first time, and Kevin Walters was hoping to take the Brisbane Broncos one step further than their 2023 Grand Final loss.
As the calendar ticks down to the kick-off of the 2025 NRL season, things look very different.
Hunt and Maguire have headed north to the Queensland capital to revive Australia’s biggest club after a brutally disappointing 2024 campaign, which cost Walters his job.
Let’s begin with Hunt.
The Central Queensland product began his first-grade career at the Broncos way back in 2009, the club’s first year after 21 under Wayne Bennett.
New coaches Ivan Henjak and Anthony Griffin — struggling to fill Bennett’s sizeable shoes in some tumultuous years for the sunshine state heavyweights — primarily used Hunt off the bench with the likes of Darren Lockyer, Peter Wallace and Scott Prince occupying the halves positions.
Wallace’s departure in 2014 handed Hunt the number seven, and he finished his first year as a regular starter with a Kangaroos jumper in his wardrobe.
Then Bennett’s return spurred a superb 2015 campaign, with the crafty halfback pulling the strings.
But in a classic Grand Final against local rivals North Queensland, Hunt’s season ended in tears.
The Cowboys scored after the siren to force the decider into golden-point extra time, then Hunt spilled the kick-off, gifting Johnathan Thurston the chance to drill the premiership-winning drop goal.
Hunt refused to let the error define his career, forcing his way into the Queensland Origin side and back into Australian calculations.
In 2018, the Dragons snared Hunt’s signature and stormed into the finals — a feat they failed to achieve in the following six seasons, despite their playmaker’s best efforts.
Despite starring for Queensland and Australia, and hoarding Dally M votes for his single-handed efforts in the red vee, Hunt couldn’t do it all on his own.
Now aged 34, he’d had enough, walking away from the final year of his Saints deal to sign for two at the Broncos.
With 334 NRL games under his belt and the twilight of his career approaching, Hunt has returned home for one reason: an elusive premiership ring.
“It’s definitely a club that has meant a lot to me, I’ve been involved with the Broncos since I was 13,” Hunt said when he inked his homecoming in November.
“I’ve been away for seven years but I’ve watched every single Broncos game since I’ve been away.
“The chance now to head back and chase that premiership together is a dream come true.”
Hunt’s new coach Maguire (left) has experienced similar twists and turns throughout his rugby league life.
After a low-profile journeyman playing career, the Canberra native began his coaching CV as an assistant at the Raiders, before moving to Melbourne to become Craig Bellamy’s understudy.
Having helped mentor the Storm into the dynasty they became, Maguire really made a name for himself in the Super League.
In his first season helming Wigan in 2010, he led the Warriors to their first Grand Final triumph in 12 years, then added the 2011 Challenge Cup to his resume.
He made a similarly instant impact on South Sydney when he returned down under in 2012, shifting star centre Greg Inglis to fullback and guiding the Rabbitohs back to the finals after a five-year absence.
Back-to-back preliminary final exits built towards ending the Bunnies’ 43-year premiership drought in 2014, headlined by Sam Burgess’ Clive Churchill Medal-winning display despite a broken cheekbone.
From there, things at Redfern soured quickly. When the star-studded roster missed the 2016 and 2017 playoffs, the club terminated their coach’s contract two seasons early.
Maguire began a six-year stint as Kiwis coach in 2018. His time at the Wests Tigers, which began the following season, didn’t last quite as long.
The joint venture has been a long-running soap opera since winning their sole title in 2005, and Maguire’s cameo was no exception.
They won a bit. They lost lots. The ‘Tales from Tiger Town’ documentary aired all their dirty laundry. And in 2022, Maguire was left carrying the can for issues than ran a lot deeper than the coach’s box.
Eyebrows were raised when NSW appointed Maguire for the 2024 Origin campaign. But the underdog Blues claimed a shock comeback series win, and their coach’s stocks soared.
So when the Broncos made a ruthless call on favourite son Walters, ‘Madge’ was the man.
He inherits a side ripe with potential. They should have won a premiership when the Broncos led the Panthers 24-8 on the hour mark of the 2023 decider before Nathan Cleary caused their capitulation.
But 2024 was a season from hell. It began with losing Herbie Farnworth, Thomas Flegler and Kurt Capewell to rival clubs then Adam Reynolds and Patrick Carrigan scuffling in the pre-season.
It continued with injuries plaguing key men Reece Walsh, Reynolds, Payne Haas and Ezra Mam. And it ended with Walters’ sacking.
On paper, Brisbane’s full-strength 17 is one of the best in the comp … even without Mam for the first nine rounds due to off-season driving charges.
Maguire is already tinkering with the line-up, shifting Carrigan to prop to accommodate once-unwanted bench forward Kobe Hetherington at lock.
There’s also talk hookers Blake Mozer and Cory Paix will replace Walters’ son Billy at dummy-half.
Plus, the old playing group and new playmaker and coach all share one thing in common: unfinished business. That extra fire in the belly that comes with being written off. Something to prove.
Hunt will be desperate to win a premiership ring at the club where he came so close a decade ago.
Maguire will be desperate to add another to his collection after 11 years of more downs than ups.
And the survivors of the 2023 Grand Final collapse will be desperate to reverse that result.
Maguire’s men enter 2025 trailing only perennial contenders Melbourne and Penrith in the premiership favouritism race.
Their 10-win, 12th-place finish to 2024 is easily overlooked when you have such a litany of stars on your team sheet to distract you, and the optimism of a bounce-back under a new coach.
If the big names stay fit and the new faces fit in, the Broncos promise give the Storm and Panthers plenty of reasons to peer over their shoulders.
First published in Rugby League World magazine, Issue 506 (March 2025)
