NRL news: Mal Meninga responds to Ezra Mam call as truth emerges about return to Broncos team

Yahoo

08-05-2025

Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga says the Broncos have made the right call not picking Ezra Mam to make his NRL return on Friday night, as new details emerge about Brisbane's reasons for overlooking the 22-year-old. Mam was available for selection in the round 10 game away to the Rabbitohs after serving a nine-game ban for a drug-driving incident in the off-season that also saw him disqualified from driving for six months and slapped with $120,000 in fines.
A magistrate told the Broncos playmaker he was lucky not to have killed anyone when he crashed into an Uber containing a mother and child, as well as the driver. The Brisbane five-eighth pleaded guilty in court and was banned from driving for six months and copped an $850 fine, but many critics argued the punishment was too lenient.
Kangaroos coach Mal Meninga reckons Brisbane have made the right call not to rush Ezra Mam back into the NRL after his nine-game ban. Pic: Getty
Mam copped a taste of the public sentiment against him during Magic Round last weekend when he was booed by sections of the Suncorp Stadium crowd after being shown on the big screen. But despite many expecting Mam to come back into Maguire's 17-man squad for Friday night's game against Souths, the 22-year-old will instead make his competitive return to footy for Souths Logan Magpies in the Queensland Cup on the weekend.
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Broncos legend and club director Darren Lockyer warned last month that Mam's lack of game time could see him eased back into the NRL. And Meninga says overlooking Mam was the right move from Maguire to ensure the playmaker - who has been banned from playing all levels of footy - gets some valuable playing time under his belt before being thrust back into first grade.
Mal Meninga agrees with call to ease Ezra Mam back
'Ezra has obviously proved himself at the elite level,' Meninga told SENQ Breakfast. 'He's a great player but I think he (Maguire) is doing the right thing. 'If you have been a consistent first grader, of course you just want to jump back into the first team.
"It's up to what the coach thinks and what he believes is good for the team. It would be good to have Ezra back because he's an enthusiastic player and he has that high speed game. I reckon he plays just one game in the Queensland Cup and then he will come back.'
Theory emerges about why Ezra Mam's return was held back
While Mam's lack of footy would be the obvious reason he's not playing in the NRL this week, there are suggestions the Broncos didn't want the controversial star's return to overshadow the NRL's Women in League Round. Veteran league reporter Phil Rothfield revealed on his Off the Record podcast with fellow league journo Andrew Webster that Mam was in line to be included in Brisbane's squad until "internal pressure" from within the club saw him eventually drop out.
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'It's because it's Women in League Round,' Rothfield said. 'That's the mail I'm getting. I made calls on Tuesday about whether he would be in the side. Some very good sources at the Broncos informed us that he was on an extended bench. That was 11am. Then the teams came out and he was nowhere to be seen.
'My information is there was internal pressure, with it being Women in League, that it wouldn't be the right look. He also hadn't played footy for a long time... When you consider a four-year-old girl was left with a fractured hip in that car incident. Her mum was in the car. She was badly shaken. He had cocaine in his system, he was unlicensed, he veered to the wrong side of the road.'
Ezra Mam will have to return to footy via the Queensland Cup after serving a nine-game ban. Pic: Getty
Ezra Mam collided with another vehicle while unlicensed. Image: Channel 9
Mam's case divided public opinion and the fact he was booed during Magic Round shows the 22-year-old's popularity with league fans has clearly taken a hit. Many critics such as Webster argued that Mam should have copped a much longer ban than nine games, considering Roosters star Spencer Leniu was suspended for eight games in 2024 for a racial slur on the Broncos playmaker.
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'He should have sat out the year,' Webster said about Mam. 'I know that's heavy but to make it one extra week than the Spencer Leniu suspension )was wrong)... There was more concern from that incident about Ezra's welfare. What about the little girl? What about the mother? Where was the condemnation for what Ezra had done? Nine matches sent a terrible message. To not pick him for this round, because it's Women in League, seems like a piss-weak move after making a piss-weak decision last year.'