Patrick Carrigan makes emphatic call on ousting Adam Reynolds as Brisbane Broncos captain

Brisbane forward Patrick Carrigan has backed Adam Reynolds to remain captain at the Broncos, despite the club's disappointing NRL season and calls for a leadership change at the club. Kevin Walters paid the price for the Broncos' dramatic fall from grace in 2024 after being sacked as Brisbane's coach off the back of an independent review into the club's underwhelming campaign.

The Broncos went from grand finalists in 2023 to missing out on the finals this year after an inconsistent season punctuated by ill-discipline on the field, injuries to key players and criticism around the attitude of the playing group. It was the third season in four under Walters that the Broncos failed to finish in the top-eight, prompting Brisbane to part ways with the club great and install Michael Maguire as their new coach.

Maguire previously won a premiership as South Sydney's coach in 2014 and helped mastermind New Zealand's 30-0 victory over the Kangaroos in last year's Pacific Championship final. He then took over as the State of Origin coach for NSW this year as the Blues won back the shield from Queensland, before being granted a release from the NSWRL to take up the position with Brisbane.

The appointment of the former Blues coach and the treatment of Walters has rubbed plenty of Broncos greats up the wrong way and has cast doubts over the future of Brisbane assistant coach, Allan Langer. The Broncos had their end-of-season dinner on Thursday night, where Carrigan was awarded his second Paul Morgan medal as the Broncos' NRL player of the year and Walters was a conspicuous no-show after declining an invitation to attend.

Pat Carrigan named Broncos player of the year

The consistent Carrigan (86 votes) was a clear winner from Selwyn Cobbo (50), Kotoni Staggs (48), Payne Haas (32), Reece Walsh (26), Corey Jensen (23) and Kobe Hetherington (22). Carrigan admitted it was a strange feeling being named Brisbane's best player in 2024 in a season where the club failed to live up to expectations. And he said the entire Broncos squad had to accept responsibility for the shortcomings that ultimately saw Walters' tenure as head coach come to an end.

"It's a hard one to be honest; I don't think too much about my own performance," Carrigan said. "I play a team sport for a reason and as a club we weren't where we wanted to be. We had a lot of learning curves this year and there's things to build on for next year, and as a playing group accountability is where it starts."

The Maroons and Kangaroos forward didn't go into detail about Walters' exit but revealed he had spoken to Maguire and was excited to work with a coach who is a proven winner and renowned disciplinarian. "I've had a brief chat to Madge (Maguire); a really nice fella and he's had a lot of success previously," Carrigan added. "I'm excited to work with him and he wants to work hard."

Pat Carrigan backs Adam Reynolds to remain captain

However, Carrigan emphatically shut down claims from the likes of Broncos legend Gorden Tallis that he should replace Reynolds as captain, with the Brisbane lock throwing his support behind the veteran halfback. "No chance, 100 per cent behind Reyno," the 26-year-old said. "People that know him as a leader and the influence he has on the club, it's second to none he should be skipper of our team."

Tallis was particularly critical of Reynolds' leadership during Brisbane's poor run of form at the back-end of the season that included a 41-16 flogging by the Bulldogs at home in round 21. “I think the team is lacking leadership. I watch them closely... (against the Bulldogs) somebody needed to stand up and put a stake in the ground,” Tallis said on Fox Sports' NRL 360 at the time.

“(Reynolds) didn’t do it, and in the grand final he didn’t get them home either. If he’s the captain and he’s not doing it, there might be a chance to put Pat Carrigan there. It’s about putting your ego in your pocket because Allan Langer left to go to England and they put me as captain. When he came back, Alf was the captain again but he said ‘no you’re our leader’.

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“In that game on the weekend, under the pump, if I’m playing with Allan Langer, he gets out from dummyhalf, he does three or four tackles in a row, he looks at us and challenges us. There’s none of that happening at the moment. So maybe there should be a change with (the person) who gets the C next to their name.”

with AAP