Brisbane must improve their performance, culture and overall standards to fire in the NRL, and the recruitment of rugby league nous now under way in the football department is a key first step.

The Broncos have appointed experienced and highly regarded Troy Thomson as their new football operations manager to replace Joe McDermott.

They have also advertised for a general manager of football to sit in an overarching role, similar to the one Ben Ikin fulfilled in his recent short stint.

The Ezra Mam car crash, where the star five-eighth allegedly tested positive to a roadside drug test while driving unlicensed, was further evidence of a cultural and behavioural slide that earlier manifested itself in a pre-season drunken wrestle between senior players Pat Carrigan and Adam Reynolds.

Throw in a dismal 12th-place finish to the 2024 season and it is clear the Broncos have plenty of work to do in order to challenge next year. New coach Michael Maguire needs the right support around him, which is where Thomson and the new football GM will be vital.

"I think we've got some real culture challenges. We've had some culture challenges across the course of this year," Broncos CEO Dave Donaghy said.

"We had been working to address those, but we'll continue to work towards addressing those because it's really important. I think first and foremost it's about making sure our people have the right environment, but also that they're willing to buy into what our club's about.

"We've looked to invest in really strong leadership and we'll continue to invest in strong leadership. We're in the market for a general manager of football to come in to help support Michael, and I think that'll be another important step that will reinforce that.

"Troy will come in and he'll really support Michael with the NRL operations and the NRL program, and that's a huge program in itself.

"We've seen huge growth in terms of our fan base and our commercial program here, and the huge focus now is on the performance element and driving standards, so Troy will be really focused on that."

Melbourne Storm's Frank Ponissi is a prime example of a quality GM of football with oversight of an entire football program. It is a role the Broncos did not really have in the 25 years Wayne Bennett was coach. Bennett was omnipresent and delegated when required, but the Broncos program is now so vast that it is required.

"You're talking about NRL, NRLW and we've got two academy programs and three affiliate clubs that are involved in our program," Donaghy said.

"We want to have really strong relationships with both NRL game development, the Queensland Rugby League and our game development programs as well.

"We've got 10 staff involved with that across a dozen junior clubs and many more. I think they see upwards of 50,000 kids across the course of a year.

"Just given the focus and scrutiny on the NRL program, we felt it was too much to have one person really attached to that when we've got such a wide, vast football program.

"That's not including our salary caps across both teams and football department caps. It's a big, core part of our business and we make no apologies for wanting to invest in it."