Broncos founder takes aim

THE Broncos’ founding father Barry Maranta claims the club’s famed culture has been destroyed and fears Brisbane’s young guns could be scarred by Thursday night’s debacle against the Roosters.

Maranta watched the Broncos’ 59-0 capitulation and believes the players are unfair targets for a deeper cultural problem at Red Hill.

Maranta, Paul Morgan, Steve Williams and Gary Balkin were the quartet who built the foundations of the Broncos in 1988, and a key principle under inaugural coach Wayne Bennett was playing for the jumper until the 80th minute.

Reflecting on Thursday night’s 10-try hammering – the worst loss in Broncos history – Maranta turned up the heat on club chairman Karl Morris and chief executive Paul White.

“The poor players aren’t the problem, it’s bigger than that,” he said. “I can’t imagine Lachlan Murdoch (co-chairman of News Corp, a majority owner of the club) would be happy – he would be furious with this.

“This is not the Broncos I know. The culture has changed. What we see now is what I saw in other struggling teams when we first set up the Broncos.

“We made up our minds at the time that we would never be like the battling clubs and we put a lot of emphasis on loyalty, support and team camaraderie.

“The problem at the club has existed long before last night’s performance.

“Paul Morgan wasn’t the only one who would have turned in his grave – Gary Balkin would have as well.”

Maranta is concerned by a leadership void that has exposed emerging rookies such as Payne Haas, Tom Flegler, Pat Carrigan, Cory Paix, Tesi Niu, Herbie Farnworth and Ethan Bullemor.

“I felt terrible for the young fellas out there because they are talented and I do believe they care, but what can the club expect when they are putting out an under-23s side?” Maranta said.

“I feel sorry for the lads that they have to be targets of comments, and that’s the nature of professional sport, but the Broncos’ problems are wider than the playing squad.

“I studied teams that went bad ... once you go backwards, the energy required to turn a club around increases 10-fold.

“Anyone with any knowledge of a serious franchise knows the Broncos need to rebuild – and can they do it without scarring the younger group?”