EXCLUSIVE: Phil Gould brushes away 'rubbish' reason for bewildering Broncos decline

Phil Gould refuses to accept a "lack of effort" from the playing group as the primary cause for the troubling Broncos run as the team looks to get their season back on track.

A brutal thrashing from the Manly Sea Eagles has intensified the spotlight on the Broncos as they have failed to record more than one win in their past seven games.

Reports of player discontent and concerns around Michael Maguire's training techniques have emerged in the wake of poor results, though all have been denied by skipper Adam Reynolds.

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Suggestions of a possible player revolt were also dismissed by the Broncos skipper, who reiterated on 100% Footy that his team is "working hard" like all others in the league.

Still, talks and criticism about the side's performances and results have continued, much to the disappointment of Gould.

"When you see a side like that, all of sudden it's the players are off with the coach, the coach has lost the dressing room... that's rubbish, I don't see that at all," he said on Wide World of Sports' Six Tackles with Gus.

"That's what people saw about any club struggling when they expected better. I think people get influenced by the scoreboard a lot when they critique these performances.

"I'm watching the game and I'm not seeing a lack of effort, I'm not seeing a lack of care. I certainly can't label them with that. In fact, I think sometimes they are their own worst enemy because they are over trying.

"The body language of the players is not so much despondent... it's just they look a little bit helpless at the moment as to why it's going the way it is.

"At the moment, they are playing without confidence, without cohesion and without direction. That's not a (swipe) on the leaders of the team, they're just too frantic in what they're doing. They're trying to solve problems instantly instead of taking a longer term approach to it and it kind of spirals out of control for them.

"When things go against them, they just don't know how to handle the setback. They don't know how to handle the scoreboard, that's what they don't know how to handle.

"The further the scoreboard run against them (at Brookvale), the worse it got for them.

"I thought there were some players who really tried hard. Who can fault the performance of Payne Haas with what he did after Origin. He had plenty of teammates who were really trying hard.

"But there is a fine line between that and then getting you're win and a little bit of confidence back."

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Maguire will be hopeful he leads the team to a better ladder position than last season, when the team ran 12th and coach Kevin Walters was ultimately sacked.

Brisbane currently sits 11th on the ladder.

But Gould believes the coach's focus after round 13 will be on the major task of altering and mending the mentality of his playing group.

"I think the problems with them mainly are mental," Gould said.

"When they get on the front foot, they are an awesome football team with great talent. I'm not writing them off at all, nor am I being overly critical of them.

"I think these are things they just need to settle down, it is not going to be solved overnight. They just need to take a breath of fresh air, sit and relax, and get into that room full of mirrors where they can all take accountability for what's going wrong and sort it out.

"There are some simple fixes mentally that can get them back on track and help them deal with their difficulties better than what they are at the moment."

Gould recognised that while many are focused on finding a solution to the steady decline of points, no one but the players will be able to identify and fix the cause.

"You can only sort it out by yourselves, no one is coming to help them," he said.

"There is no cavalry coming over the hill. No one is going to provide the solution for them, they have to find it themselves.

"The answers are in the dirt, they just have to dig it out."

The Broncos next host the Titans on Saturday.