It is an interesting concept when Madge was first appointed after Ivan left us I was ecstatic, I thought for sure he would be the guy that would get us finals bound for sure. Unfortunately it wasn’t meant to be.
When Madge came in at first it all started pretty nicely, we finished in 9th in his first year at the club and even thought I left LO that day heartbroken that we missed out of the 8 against the Sharks I thought we’d be better and stronger the year after. But unfortunately (once the comp resumed after the pandemic forced it to temporarily suspend it) we finished in 11th in 2020 and then the year after we finished in 13th. We were getting worse each year it was clear the players we did have were off him and at the end of the day it is a results driven business. Madge simply couldn’t do what was needed and Madge did struggle at first with recruitment now I’ll give him a bit of a break he did have a lot of money tied up in Ivan’s buys and we didn’t have a lot to work with but there was players who he tried to recruit that weren’t interested in coming over. It seemed it started to turn once we got Ice and then Api on board after the 2021 season for 2023. But he didn’t get the chance to coach them I did want Madge to at least finish the season in 2022 we might have avoided the spoon if he did or maybe it would’ve happened regardless.
HOWEVER, I won’t blame Madge entirely for the mess that was created when he was here with us. Having Justin Pascoe and Lee Hagipantellis on our board spelled disaster for the club and no organisation would have been a good one with those 2 around. Lee almost on a weekly basis made us look like a basket case announcing who we were trying to sign, then sometimes announcing we pulled out, only then to to go back in and try to sign them again. Plus Pascoe made us look bad with that documentary, the Benji mistake once the COE was opened and the lie of the memberships as well as his suspension back in 2019. Madge definitely got dealt a hard hand with those 2 around during his run with us. I did felt bad for him in that regard.
Now he’s won Origin, also won the Pacific Cup back in 23 with NZ, and now he’s in the GF next week. I’ll give him credit but having those jobs are different to what we had. When he coached NZ and the Blues he got to pick the players that he wanted in the side that were eligible and available. Being a rep coach is different to coaching week in and out. Also when Broncos announced him as coach he already walked into a talented side that only back in 2023 was in the GF with majority of the players that are there currently. He walked in with Walsh, Hass, Carrigan, Staggs, Reynolds etc and I’m sure there’s more but I won’t name them all. He unfortunately walked into a mess with us and I’m not blaming him for that but couldn’t turn that mess into gold. If he’s got the talent there he can make it work. Unfortunately it didn’t work out with us. I hope he does well next week win or lose.