Michael Maguire is set for the biggest call of his Brisbane coaching tenure yet as he deliberates whether Ezra Mam will come straight back into a badly-beaten Broncos side for round 10.
Mam was booed by the Suncorp Stadium crowd when shown on the big screens in Brisbane's 32-8 loss to Penrith at Magic Round, the last of nine games he missed due to his ban for drug-driving.
A magistrate told the Broncos playmaker he was lucky not to have killed anyone when he crashed into an Uber containing three people while driving unlicensed and under the influence of cocaine last October.
Mam pleaded guilty, was fined $850 and banned from driving for six-months.
He made a public apology in February and has been training at five-eighth in preparation for an NRL return with the Broncos, who face South Sydney on Friday.
At full-time in the loss to Penrith, Maguire said he had not yet considered whether to recall Mam for the Souths game or ease him back through Queensland Cup.
"I'll go through this game and work out which way we'll go," he said.
On that review, Maguire will come face-to-face with a Broncos side whose halves were thoroughly outclassed by Panthers halfback Nathan Cleary at Magic Round.
Broncos halfback Adam Reynolds admitted he put the Broncos under pressure, with stand-in five-eighth Ben Hunt also struggling to halt the Panthers once they were on a roll.
"I'll put my hand up there. I obviously didn't have one of the greatest games," Reynolds said.
"There's a few things I got wrong out there and put the team under a bit of pressure. I'll wear that one."
In Mam, the Broncos would have an attacking livewire eager to write his wrongs.
But the fifth-placed Broncos have been largely served well by Hunt at five-eighth on a 5-4 start to the season.
"(Mam) will be ready to play if he was called upon. Until you're actually playing games, you can't qualify on that," Maguire said.
"But he's done everything he possibly can to give himself the opportunity to come into selection."
Maguire will consult with Reynolds and senior players as to whether Mam should be selected, or whether he may need time playing for feeder side Souths-Logan.
"There's parts of his game that under repetition he hasn't been able to have. That tends to be the defensive side. I have to make sure he is ready to go," Maguire said.
"I talk to my leaders all the time about how the team looks and what we're doing and what we're moving towards."
