- Mam is being investigated by Queensland Police and the NRL
- Broncos CEO has spoken out about the alleged incident
Brisbane Broncos CEO Dave Donaghy has not ruled out sacking star playmaker Ezra Mam after the troubled star allegedly failed a roadside drug test after being involved in a head-on car crash on Friday.
Mam was involved in the alleged incident in the inner-north Brisbane suburb of Bardon just hours before the Australian Kangaroos took on Tonga in the Pacific Championships.
The 21-year-old was reportedly moving house when the Ford Ranger he was driving allegedly collided with an Uber car driven by a mother whose daughter was a passenger.
Nobody was seriously hurt in the incident.
Queensland Police carried out roadside drug and alcohol testing, with Mam allegedly failing the drug test but returning a negative result for alcohol.
Police and the NRL’s Integrity Unit are now investigating the incident and are waiting for the results of a secondary drugs test, which could take weeks to come back.
Donaghy said the club was working with p olice and the NRL and will not make any decision’s on Mam’s $4million contract until the facts are clear.
‘It would be remiss of me to jump too far ahead here.’ he said on radio station 4BC Brisbane.
‘We haven’t had a discussion internally in depth. I think firstly, we don’t have all the full facts. For us, we want to ensure we’ve got all the information so we can make the right decision for us.
‘But certainly, from a club’s perspective, we’re very disappointed to find ourselves in a position like this.
‘We are a community-based club that puts the community at the centre of what we do.
‘For us to have these types of discussions in the off-season rather than talking about the build-up, I suppose, or the preparation leading into next season is really disappointing. Certainly that point has been made.’
It is the second off-field incident involving the Broncos playmaker this year, after he was involved in an altercation with a fan while holidaying in Bali with teammate Reece Walsh.
The Broncos duo were reportedly asked for a selfie in a Bali nightclub and the fan’s phone was broken during the interaction. Mam and Walsh replaced the broken phone with a new one.
Regardless of the outcome of the investigation, Donaghy said the dual scandals had to be a wake-up call for the young players in the Broncos squad.
‘Ezra is a young man, he is a 21 year old. They do [make mistakes] but unfortunately in this industry you need to grow up quickly,’ he said.
‘It is the price of entry, it is a very privileged role. So it will be a process to follow which we will do, I am big – as we all are at the club – on personal responsibility and accountability.
‘I’ve seen commentary previously about a line in the sand moment, I think for this group it is a grow-up moment.’
The Broncos have been maligned for giving the players too much leeway in recent years.
Despite making the 2023 NRL grand final, where Mam scored three tries in a losing cause, Brisbane crashed out of finals contention this season and coach Kevin Walters was sacked.
Donaghy admitted there were cultural issues that needed to be addressed by incoming coach Michael McGuire and said the coach would also appoint a general manager of football to assist him in laying out the new standards.
‘We’ve got some cultural challenges, I’m not going to shy away from that,’ he said.
‘Back to leadership, it’s an area that we’ve highlighted and identified that we need to really invest in because that will help support and drive leadership.
‘Michael is really clear on the standards that he intends to expect from the group.
‘We’ve been very deliberate about investing in our leadership capability and our culture within the football program.
‘We’ve been disappointed across the year where we are are, but we certainly are clear that we want our program to be performance led, we don’t want it to be lifestyle led.
‘And we know that is going to take a hell of a lot of hard work. The reality is we might not fix it overnight.’
