Brisbane bosses say Ezra Mam could be sacked after car crash

Scandal on Day 1

Michael Maguire arrived at Brisbane’s training facilities for the first time on Wednesday. It should’ve been a day for ‘Mags’ to celebrate his new job as Broncos boss. Instead, he had to address a severe scandal involving one of his top players.

The former Blues boss was asked what he knew about Ezra Mam’s car crash and what steps the club were taking to address the 21-year-old’s behaviour this offseason.

“It’s never nice obviously when you have to go through things like this but we are where we are,” Maguire said, before revealing that he actually didn’t know that much about the incident.

“I’ve got to find out more about what the situation actually entails but I have spoken to him and it’s more about the safety of everyone involved in that situation,” Maguire said.

“I’ll find out the details. I’ve only just landed. I’m not going to talk about those over the phone. But I’ll definitely find out how one of our players gets to that point.”

Not going to talk about sacking

After explaining that he had talked to Mam, but didn’t know many of the details, Maguire was asked if the Broncos had considered sacking the five-eighth.

“I’m not even going to touch on that at the moment,” Maguire responded emphatically.

The former NSW head coach said there are still police processes and Mam’s rehab program that need to develop before the club can make a decision on sacking him.

“(Mam has) to go through a process with the police and the game and the organisation itself,” Maguire explained.

“People will make mistakes but they’ve also got to own them. I think his actions moving forward are very important.

“I know he’s getting some help at the moment about where he’s at and once he works through that, I’ll get some time with him and assess everything that’s going on.

“(The process) could take quite some time to get to where we want to get to.”

CEO won’t rule out sacking

While Maguire was emphatic that Mam would be given a chance to prove himself before the club considered sacking him, Broncos Chief Executive Dave Donaghy would not rule out terminating Mam’s contract.

“We haven’t spoken in depth about it (sacking Mam), but it’s obviously a serious matter and we’re treating it like that,” Donaghy said on Wednesday.

“Once we’ve got all the information, we’ll be able to work through from there and work out the next course of action. But I don’t think it’ll be a fast process,” he added.

Donaghy also said that Mam was a “decent man,” who has struggled to adapt to a big last 12 months where everyone at Broncos has struggled. For Brisbane and Mam’s sake, let’s hope the 21-year-old can put this all behind him.