Hurting coach Ivan Henjak has refused to bag former Broncos captain and club great Gorden Tallis for saying he'd be "embarrassed" to play with Brisbane's struggling forwards.

Henjak said on Tuesday the criticism Brisbane was copping was because of the lofty standards they set and he wouldn't want it any other way.

"I'm glad that expectation (to win) is there actually," said Henjak amid calls for the club to cut fullback Karmichael Hunt and let him go to AFL club Gold Coast now.

"The expectation of this club is always great, no matter who we put on the field, people expect us to win or perform well, it's an expectation we live with.

"I'd hate people to ever think we're an ordinary footy team or an ordinary club.

"I never want us to get to that, so I don't mind that expectation."

Tallis - one of four players to captain Australia from the Broncos - ripped in on Tuesday questioning whether the players were hurting enough.

"Whether they have respect for Ivan (Henjak) or not, whether they respect his coaching staff or respect Locky (captain Darren Lockyer), they have to have respect for ... the jumper that they wear," said the robust Townsville forward who wore Broncos colours 158 times between 1997 and 2004.

"I played in what they called the worst Broncos side ever in 1999, when we won only one of our first 10 games, but we did something about it. We turned it around and won 11 in a row, this team has to find the same resolve."

Henjak wore Tallis's spray, saying the players deserved the criticism being levelled at them until they turned things around.

"I don't know what Gorden's motivation for saying what he said but he's got every right to voice his opinion," offered Henjak as the pressure continued to build from last week's woeful 56-0 loss to Canberra.

"My reaction to all this is: `hey, we deserve what we're copping at the moment' and we need to turn it around against the Sharks on Monday night.

Henjak though took a veiled dig at Tallis saying his players would listen to former Broncos like Shane Webcke, Steve Renouf, Kerrod Walters, Gavin Allen, Michael Hancock, Chris Johns, Willie Carne and Darren Smith who turned up to train with the team on Tuesday in a show of support.

"There was a lot of positives here today with other past players who were here to support us," he said.

"They're the ones we'll take our advice from."

"If we're going to fix it, we need to be honest."

Brought to you by AAP © 2024 AAP