Brisbane Broncos assistant coach Trent Barrett has revealed his thoughts so far on the club’s 2025 season under Michael Maguire.
Speaking on SEN radio, Barrett explained there were encouraging signs following the 60-14 shellacking of the undermanned Rabbitohs—and it had little to do with score itself.
“What set up that second half was our first twenty to twenty five minutes, that’s something we’ve been chasing and challenging the players with,” Barrett said.
“We’ve been yet to put a full eighty minutes together, so that’s probably the first time we’ve really done it—bar Round 1 against the Roosters.“
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‘Some of the guys only have one button’
“For the first twenty minutes we were patient, we controlled the ball and that set up the second half, all the points came at the back end which generally happens when you do the work early,” he continued.
Barrett was asked about the challenges of guiding an attack with so many strike weapons and acknowledged it was all about balance.
“Just knowing when to hit the go button and when not to, some of the guys in our side only have one button—and that’s ‘go’ and ‘go faster’,” Barrett laughed.
“Sometimes the errors we’re making are from trying too hard, but we’d rather have that problem than the other, it’s about finding that balance, finding that rhythm.”
‘Every club and head coach is different’
Barrett also acknowledged the teething pains that have come from forming a new Broncos coaching group for 2025 under the leadership of head coach Michael Maguire.
“Obviously every club and head coach is different in their styles and personalities,” Barrett said.
“Madge, myself, Ben Te’o and Matty Ballin, we all come from different backgrounds and there was definitely a bit of a feeling out period, getting to know and trust each other.
“Earlier in the season we lost four or five games in a row, we probably learned more about each other as staff and players during that period than any other time—they were probably losses we needed to have.”
‘We have an opportunity, we can’t stuff it up’
As the NRL finals begin to loom on the horizon, Barrett believes the Red Hill club is starting to get on the same page now.
“As coaches we’ve known for a while how we want to play, but you also have to convince the players,” he said.
“Getting into the grind of games is something we want to be better at, which is why we’re really happy about the Rabbitohs game, we earned the right to play at the back end of that game.”
“This is a great club and an unbelievable organisation, we have a good side and we know they can play—we have an opportunity, we just can’t stuff it up, we’ve got to nail it.”
“I still don’t think we’re there yet, but when we play our best footy we can beat anybody.”