Brisbane Broncos players must decide whether they want to be title contenders or the subject of club “statements” about their off-field shenanigans.
Coach Michael Maguire wants it to be the former, of course, but star players Gehamat Shibasaki and Reece Walsh are testing his patience.
Queensland centre Shibasaki was dropped for the vital home clash with Melbourne on Thursday night after turning up to training on Monday still under the weather after a late night.
The Tuesday statement that followed called it “a breach of Broncos team standards”.
Talismanic fullback Walsh posted a video to Snapchat where he was slurping from an unused toilet bowl he had recently installed. The “little drink”, as he called it, allegedly was also “a new form of recovery, to recover the muscles”.
The Broncos put out a statement on Monday about “a poor attempt at humour” and recommended nobody should try it at home.
Brisbane have dropped star centre Gehamat Shibasaki for a disciplinary breach on the cusp of their most important match of the season.
When it comes to the litany of past rugby league atrocities, Walsh and Shibasaki are at the minor end of the scale.
Back in the bad old Broncos days of the 2020 wooden spoon, the club was putting out more statements than the White House.
Ahead of the clash with the Storm, which will decide whether they stay fourth, Maguire wants to focus on the task at hand, not distractions from what will be a tough assignment.
“It’s obviously disappointing … and he’s made a mistake,” Maguire said of Shibasaki’s actions.
“He understands that and he’s paid the price.”
The coach said the players were well aware of “the culture and expectations” he was building, and had been from the moment he arrived.
“Culture is everything, you’ve got to live by what you’re building,” Maguire said.
The coach, old school to the core, said the Walsh scenario was “a different one” and “unusual”, but insisted that his number one “needs to adjust” to the expectations that come with playing for the Broncos. He has let Walsh know that.
“Adjusting to society in this day and age is probably a bit different to what I’ve grown up in … but players of his calibre know how great an influence they can be, and sometimes it can reflect the wrong thing,” Maguire said.
Walsh, 23, has already been in the headlines this year over his own brand of humour.
In May, he was asked to front morning television before dawn to apologise for a TikTok post of him punching his best mate in the head. He made the point that it was a joke, but the Broncos did not see it that way.
Walsh has kept his sense of humour. On Wednesday, he had changed his Instagram head shot to an image of himself dressed up as a plumber.
All Maguire wants him to do is unveil all his attacking wares and ensure there are no leaks in defence against the Storm.
As for Shibasaki, he was training with the side on Wednesday.
“And getting flogged,” Maguire said with a sinister grin.
The coach just wants maximum focus and effort with no more distractions that threaten to flush the side’s title hopes away.
“Rugby league’s big up here, but we haven’t done anything yet. It’s about tomorrow night,” Maguire said.
