Theory behind Broncos bungle after rookie’s bold swipe at Madge
Broncos legend Darius Boyd has defended the club’s decision to let a young gun halfback walk after he made history in a stunning NRL debut, and then took a pot shot at embattled Brisbane coach Michael Maguire.
Coby Black, 20, was handed his first game in the big league and led Canberra to an upset win over the Cowboys at the weekend.
Coby Black on debut for the Raiders. NRL Imagery
The rookie playmaker scored 26 individual points - the most ever on NRL debut - with two tries, nine goals, a try assist and 529 kick metres to stun finals-bound North Queensland.
After the game, Black said in an interview with Code Sports he had been given “mixed messages” by Maguire last year, before requesting a release and leaving the 2025 premiers to play under Ricky Stuart in the nation’s capital.
The Broncos, meanwhile, are in the midst of one of the ugliest periods in the proud club’s history.
The club missed finals, have lost the game’s best prop Payne Haas to South Sydney, and are dealing with the fallout to the Adam Reynolds retirement circus that left all and sundry with egg on their faces last week.
With Reynolds gone, questions have arisen as to what the spine looks like next year.
Ben Hunt is 36 years old, while young halves Tom Duffy and Jonah Pezet were both underwhelming this season for the Broncos and Eels respectively.
On the back of Black’s sensational debut, critics are once again swiping the Broncos and Maguire, claiming they let the good one go. Brisbane also let Tom Dearden leave the club as a youngster, before he became a State of Origin superstar.
Boyd, though, is not about to join the chorus of criticism.
“I think a lot of the time it’s about timing, it’s about salary, it’s about management,” Boyd said on Wide World of Sports’ QLDER.
“There are so many things that come into making those decisions, right?
“I can’t speak for the Broncos and what they were thinking internally. You talk about premiership windows – obviously they had just won a premiership and maybe wanted to continue that premiership window, maybe they thought Coby was too far away from adding value to a premiership.
Retiring star Adam Reynolds with coach Michael Maguire. NRL Imagery
“He’s a young kid, on a trajectory to something special. But maybe with Duffy and Pezet in there, they thought they were a little bit older and a bit ahead of where Coby is currently.”
While Black now creates a selection headache for Raiders coach Stuart heading into next season, Maguire has to figure out what to do with his own halves.
Pezet will join the club after a gap year at Parramatta and will figtht it out with Hunt and Duffy for the No.7 spot.
Newly minted Queensland coach Boyd, who played alongside Hunt, says he would give the jumper to the veteran.
“I’ve always had a view that you start with experience. You don’t want to go backwards,” he said.
“If you start with the young guy, the rookies, and then go back to Ben it doesn’t work. I think you start with Ben, if he’s doing the job you keep Ben there, let those (other) guys keep plying their trade off the bench or in reserve grade.
“Then if it’s not working and you want to make a change, or Ben gets injured or whatever it is, then you can go to the young guys and give them an opportunity.”
