NRL 2022: Warriors prop Matt Lodge lifts lid on his exit from the Brisbane Broncos

Matt Lodge can pinpoint the exact moment his time at the Broncos went downhill. Now the controversial prop breaks his silence on his rocky ride at Red Hill.

Warriors prop is not bitter about his exit from the Broncos. Picture: Chris Hyde/Getty Images

Brisbane discard Matt Lodge insists he holds no bitterness towards coach Kevin Walters as club bosses revealed how close the controversial prop came to captaining the Broncos.

As he prepares to face Brisbane on Saturday for the first time since his switch to the Warriors, Lodge has opened up about his love for the Broncos, his relationship with key figures at the club and the saga that led to him being overlooked for the captaincy.

Former Broncos coach Wayne Bennett issued Lodge a lifeline following his infamous New York rampage in 2015, only for Walters to offload the firebrand midway through last season due to salary-cap pressures.

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Now Lodge returns to face the Broncos at Redcliffe as the Warriors’ front-row spearhead, conceding he needed a change after two years of on-field misery at Red Hill.

“It’s a new generation and a new time for the Broncos,” Lodge said. “It was my time to go.”

Matt Lodge will spearhead the Warriors’ pack against his former club, the Broncos, this weekend. Picture: NRL Photos

THE COACH

When Walters stepped into the Broncos coaching hot seat last year, one of his first tasks was putting Brisbane’s salary cap under the microscope.

Lodge and Tevita Pangai Jnr were taking up a combined $1.5 million of Brisbane’s cap. Walters wanted to re-direct funds to his playmaking spine, so he made it clear that Lodge and Pangai Jnr were free to negotiate with rival clubs.

Lodge’s Broncos tenure eventually came to an end last June. At the 11th hour, a Broncos faction tried to convince him to stay but the saga had gone past the point of no return.

Lodge reached a $1 million settlement with the Broncos — the money helped him buy a house on Sydney’s northern beaches — and he secured a lifeline at the Warriors.

Despite suggestions Walters and Lodge fell out, the prop harbours no ill-will towards the coach for cutting him loose. He understands the rationale behind Walters’ call after a disappointing 2020 where injury restricted Lodge to only six games.

“That is footy, hey,” Lodge said.

“I signed a five-year deal at the Broncos. I thought I was going to captain the club at one point. A new coach came in and I kind of knew from that point that my time there was probably going to be over pretty quick.

Matt Lodge says he holds no bitterness towards Broncos coach Kevin Walters (left) for moving him on. Picture: AAP Images

“I understand that. We weren’t getting results and I was at the higher end of the salary cap. Something had to change.
“That whole process — Kevvie and I never had an issue. There was not a bad word spoken. It got to the point there in the end where he was asking me to consider staying but the deal was too good.
“It was probably fair from Kevvie. (Season) 2020 was probably my worst year of footy. He probably didn’t know the underlying issues there — I played three games with a torn ACL and another three with a fractured tibia.
“I only played six games that year, we got the spoon and they were all shit games by me. If I was coming in as coach I would probably have looked to move me, too.”

THE CAPTAINCY
Lodge can pinpoint the moment when his time at the Broncos began to go downhill.

It was the end of 2019 and then coach Anthony Seibold, Walters’ predecessor, wanted Lodge to take over the captaincy from Darius Boyd.

It would have been one of the most controversial decisions in Broncos’ history given Lodge’s rap sheet. In 2015, he was arrested at gunpoint by New York police after a wild night out. He spent two weeks in Rikers Island prison.

Given that backdrop, the plan for Lodge to be Brisbane’s captaincy poster boy polarised fans and Broncos Old Boys.

The board eventually decided it was too hot to handle and overlooked Lodge, plumping for Alex Glenn.

Lodge was disappointed at the time but now concedes that he can understand the decision.

Matt Lodge had support from some Broncos bosses to captain the club.

“That is probably where it went downhill for me,” he said.
“They asked me (if I wanted to be captain) and then the board knocked it back. I have learnt a lot from that experience and those years.
“Some people are meant to be leaders on the field and it doesn’t suit my personality.

“I have gone back to Warriors, being one of the lads, having a joke ..… not taking footy and training too seriously.

“That works better for me. They (Brisbane) threw me in that position where it got real serious and I felt a bit disconnected from some of those young guys who in another time I would have been having fun with, going out and having jokes.

“I don’t have to pretend to be something I am not. I am enjoying it at the Warriors with no leadership pressure. I am not in the leadership group.

“I just listen and if they need advice on the footy stuff, then I am happy to give some input.”

THE BOARD

Broncos chair Karl Morris confirmed there was a push for Lodge to captain the club.

For all the outrage attached to Lodge’s New York drama, Morris praised the prop’s exemplary behaviour during his four seasons at the club.

“Matt and I got on quite well,” Morris said. “Ultimately, it didn’t matter what I thought. My relationship with Matt was a different one to his fellow players and the coach.

“Wayne Bennett gave Matt a break here. He went through a really long penance and he did all the right things to get back to the NRL.

Broncos chairman Karl Morris praised Lodge’s behaviour during his time at the club.

“To Matt’s great credit, he never stepped out of line off the field at the Broncos. But we had a change of coach and Kevvie wanted to go in a different direction.

“At one stage, Matt was part of the leadership group. He was one of two or three names put to the board for the captaincy, but Matt was only young and it was just too soon.
“There was a confluence of factors (in Lodge missing out on the captaincy), but I wish Matt well and I hope he plays good football for the Warriors.”

THE DRESSING ROOM
As his time at the Broncos edged closer to the end, there were suggestions that Lodge was an intimidating presence for younger players in the dressing room.
There were whispers that he was difficult to deal with and demanding on staff and teammates. Lodge doesn’t dispute It.
He makes no apologies for setting high standards for himself and those around him.
“There is probably some truth to that,” Lodge said.
“It was a terrible two years of footy, we were losing, we were getting smashed. I probably am a bit hard to deal with when we are losing.

“I am pretty competitive and I have certain standards and beliefs around the place. Some of them had fallen out of order for those two years and it was frustrating.

Lodge concedes he was hard on Brisbane teammates during their two years of heavy losses. Picture: AAP Images

“There were other senior players who felt the same. To be fair, the club probably had to get rid of us and bring in some new blood.
“They have new life with (Adam) Reynolds and senior players who haven’t been through those hard times.
“I have no doubt I was a bit of hard work there at some point. I am sure a lot of people were. It was a tough two years repetitively getting beaten and every Broncos Old Boy coming out and spraying you.
“It is a good city to play in when you are winning but it is tough when you are losing.”

THE LIFELINE
Lodge will always feel a debt to the Broncos for standing by him at the lowest point in his career. As Lodge fought for a second chance, it was Brisbane who reached out and offered him the opportunity to play in the NRL again.
They had his back during his exile from the game following his unsavoury off-field incident in New York, helping negotiate a settlement with the American family at the centre of the 2015 home invasion.

They offered him a lifeline as he served his NRL purgatory with feeder-club Redcliffe in the Queensland Cup. If it wasn’t for the Broncos, Lodge isn’t sure where he would be today.

“They were unreal for me,” Lodge said.

“The people there were really good. A lot of them moved on but there are still some good people in the office that are Broncos through and through.

“I will be good to catch up with everyone and I respect and admire a lot of the players there. It will be different coming up against them but it is a challenge I am looking forward to.

“I will always love the club. They brought me back into the game. The club is still a big part of my career. I loved a lot of my time there.

“I definitely still have a soft spot for the Broncos and it will probably always be like that.”

Originally published as NRL 2022: Warriors prop Matt Lodge lifts lid on his exit from the Brisbane Broncos