2026 Pre-Season Discussion

Super Freak said:
Doing a little digging, his missus.

That's her phone on the table next to the bag so more than likely her bag.
Click to expand...
This one?

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Donuts interview:

“I don’t think we are anywhere near the finished product yet. I think there is still more upside in the entire club. Nineteen years was a long time between drinks. A lot of hard work across the organisation went into it. The resilience we showed, it was such a special moment. People see game day and the team on the field. What they don’t see is the blood, sweat and effort that goes into toiling across an entire NRL year from every staff member in the organisation."​
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“I was fortunate to experience two premierships in Melbourne and I was desperate to play a role in us tasting that because there is no better feeling. But it’s also hard to do. There’s 17 clubs chasing the same goal. Percentage-wise that’s called low percentage and there’s a reason why only a handful of clubs have won the comp over the last decade. I’m very thankful we were able to get that monkey off our back. I was also really proud of our women’s program and it was great for them to get back to winning a trophy.”​
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“I don’t know what Canberra are sooking about. They want to talk about favouritism - our first finals game was moved to Sunday this year at Canberra’s request. Then we had a seven-day turnaround compared to Melbourne’s nine-day turnaround leading into the grand final. If that’s favouritism, I will give it away. I hope this is the start of another great Canberra-Broncos rivalry. The NRL does the draw. Take a look at Sydney-based clubs and see how many times they travel outside of Sydney. What’s the difference? Who cares. Move on.”​
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“I have known Madge for a long time and he is one of the most driven people I have ever met. He is a tireless worker but he also cares. He cares about his players. He cares about his staff. He puts so much time and effort into them, not just as employees, but as people. You saw that play out in results and you saw it play out in the development of the team.”​
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“It’s never been about vindication or validation. There was a moment in time where we felt it was the right thing to do and there’s been many and varied opinions and commentary said about it. There’s a lot of opinions in our game and a lot of white noise. People can feel however they can. That’s their right. But nobody can deny that Madge has been incredible for this organisation and he has done an outstanding job as head coach. He had wonderful staff around him, too."​
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“The way that he went about understanding the history of the club and bringing everyone along the journey and not only buying into the Broncos culture, but also enhancing it and pushing a family environment is a credit to him. I was always really confident that it would come together, but it wasn’t a straight-forward year, that’s for sure."​
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“We are hungry to keep staying in the fight in 2026 and the coming years. Season 2025 is done now. It was an amazing year, a great thrill. We were good enough to win that competition, but 2026 is a whole new challenge. There’s 17 teams, everyone starts on zero points. For us, the opportunity is to look at how we can challenge ourselves to go to the next level. Going back-to-back will be determined by how hungry the group is."​
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“I certainly think we have got some strong pieces in place to compete for trophies. That’s what we want to do. That’s why we brought back the World Club Challenge with Hull KR _ to compete for another trophy so early in the year. I get a sense there is not a level of complacency. When you have players like Ezra Mam and Blake Mozer coming back for pre-season a month early, it’s a good sign.”​
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“We would love for Payne to stay at the Broncos. We want him to keep his Broncos journey going and stay in Brisbane for the long term. Payne could be a Bronco for as long as he likes. He is an amazing athlete and he has done an unbelievable job for our footy club and our team and he is only coming into his own now from a leadership point of view. Ultimately finalising his future is for Payne and his management to work through."​
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“We would love to keep him, we hope he stays, and we have done everything we can to convince him. We also need to respect it’s his decision with his family and we will work through it whichever way it goes.”​
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“Reece is another one we would love to keep for the long term. He is currently locked down until the end of 2029 and at some point, when the time is right, we will sit down again and have a conversation around what that looks like moving forward."​
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“With R360, it’s no different to Japanese rugby or French rugby. This is a new group that has popped up. We have always had competition for athletes and the challenge for us is to look inwards and look at how we can provide the best environment and the best facilities for these guys to compete for trophies."​
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“People can talk about Reece’s TikTok and YouTube, but watch his press conference after the grand final. You see the depth of Reece Walsh coming through. His growth as a person has been wonderful to see but it doesn’t happen by accident."​
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“He has been part of an environment that’s been driven by a head coach and senior players that have been really determined to put some strong shape to the behaviours and the standards they wanted to hold themselves accountable to. He is young. He is human. He is going to make a mistake or an error at a point in time, but we can’t hang them all out to dry. We need characters in our game because they bring fans through the turnstiles.​
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“I was thrilled for Reece this year because all that kid has ever wanted to do was play for the Broncos and win a premiership and he has been able to do that. We are grateful for the contribution he made because he was immense through the back half of the year and through that finals series and again in the grand final. He was a very deserving Clive Churchill Medallist. People love watching him do what he does on the field. He is a special player. He is a special young man and we are really proud of him.”​
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“All up, I had nine years in Melbourne at the Storm and when I stop and reflect on that, I think back and I had a front-row ticket to a player in Cam Smith who in time will go down as the greatest of all time. He was a terrific leader and he has a huge football brain."​
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“We have a coach that wants to challenge and evolve and push both the team, the group and his staff. He wants to look outside the square and Cam is someone that can add value to the program. We would be silly not to bring him in. We have some really strong leaders and we have some players that we have identified that can be future leaders."​
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“To have the opportunity to bounce off not only Madge and ‘Reyno’ and ‘Hunty’, but someone like Cameron Smith, adds to the program. The beauty with Cam is he doesn’t overplay his hand. He is very good at knowing when to weigh in, he always has been, and it’s a great play by Madge to want to bring Cameron in and keep moving the program forward. The plan is for him to work with the senior leaders and emerging leaders, just to be an extra set of eyes, a mentor, and it’s great, because at some point Reyno and Hunt will finish up. What a great experience for our guys to learn from a legend like Cameron Smith.”​
 
Watching the news today and the reporter said the boys are back to training Dec 12, then comes along the Christmas break.
Madge will have to rip into them in January. Going to be real interesting seeing everyone’s fitness levels.
 
Saw this on Instagram - Ezra's new tattoo dedicated to the Broncos and the GF win.

I'm going to assume that this means that he intends to be a Bronco for life (might be a bit awkward if he ever went to another club and won a premiership - he's got no room left 😂).
 

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Are you certain that's Ezra?
I'm doubtful
 
Dexter said:
Are you certain that's Ezra?
I'm doubtful
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's definitely Ezra.

The video is far more detailed than the photo I posted and he appears at the end after the session has finished.

He also reposted the video to his Instagram account and several of the boys including Walshy and Riki commented on it.
 
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