EXCLUSIVE: Wally Lewis lifts lid on 'remarkable' manner fan sentiment has turned against Broncos coach Michael Maguire

Just days after the Broncos got back on track with a 44-14 thrashing of Gold Coast, club great Wally Lewis has lifted the lid on a fan encounter he had on the streets of Brisbane that exposes just how much work Michael Maguire still has ahead of him.

Maguire's team is currently eighth in the standings, in a logjam on 14 points, and face a dogfight with about 10 other clubs to seal a playoffs spot this season. It's a far cry from the expectations that followed the premiership coach into the job, given his heroics as NSW's coach last year and the widely-held assessment that the Broncos possess a top four roster.

Broncos director Darren Lockyer told Wide World of Sports' QLDER last week the club could not guarantee Maguire's job beyond this season if the team finishes in the bottom half of the NRL ladder.

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In response to that rev-up, the Broncos smashed the bottom-of-the-table Titans, a performance that one might think would have restored some faith in the coach. But Lewis said the feeling around the streets of Brisbane has quite clearly turned against Maguire.

"On the street I got asked by quite a few people about Michael Maguire, you know, 'this bloke, surely he can't be a good coach for our boys'," Lewis said on QLDER.

"'We gotta get rid of him already', and I'm thinking, boy, you jump to conclusions fairly quickly and, you're expecting him to (build) Rome in a day. So it was just remarkable how quickly that had set in."

Lockyer said the next month will be pivotal for the club, especially with half a dozen teams locked together on 14 competition points. He said the return of Ben Hunt from injury would be crucial.

"It's that tight, you win a couple of games. They've got after the bye, two home games, but they're two big ones. They play the Sharks and the Warriors in consecutive weeks. That'll tell us a fair bit," he said.

"It's a big, big month for them, we've seen what they're capable of. You take the first half against the Bulldogs and the first half against Titans on the weekend.

"That's what they're capable of. The question is how do they maintain that for 80 minutes and do it every week."

Maguire is contracted until the end of 2027, but Brisbane last year sacked favourite son Kevin Walters after the team finished 12th, despite coming just one year after playing in a grand final.

At this point of last season Walters had the Broncos sitting in fifth spot on the ladder but found himself without a job at the end of the year, following a 50-12 hammering to the Storm in the final week of the regular season.

Elsewhere, the Red Hill club is said to be mulling a change in logo, a historic moment after bearing just two logos in its 37-year history.

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Older fans of the game remember when they entered the NSWRL in 1988 with the iconic bucking Bronco as their crest.

The club introduced a change in 2000 with the current horse-head motif and modified it in 2006.

But another change is on the way with a similar horse-head motif in the shape of a shield to become the club's new badge.

It's understood the new club crest is a nod to the original club logo from 1988.

A Broncos spokesperson refused to confirm if the club would have the logo on the jersey next season saying it "has not been approved, accepted or registered at this point."

Next season marks the 20-year anniversary since the Broncos' last premiership victory.