The Battle: Kevin Walters declares Broncos are NRL premiership contenders ahead of Dolphins’ derby
Ahead of The Battle, Broncos coach Kevin Walters has declared his side are premiership heavyweights, saying he has the team to break their 17-year title drought.
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Kevin Walters believes the Broncos are ready to climb the premiership summit, declaring his class of 2023 have the mateship and talent to break Brisbane’s 17-year title drought.
Speaking at The Courier-Mail’s inaugural Battle Lunch ahead of Friday night’s Broncos-Dolphins blockbuster, Walters said Brisbane are ready to turn the pain of last year’s top-eight collapse into a premiership fightback this season.
Leading Fox Sports presenter Yvonne Sampson revealed at the lunch Walters had sent her a text message saying Brisbane were ready to break through for a title after watching the attitude of his troops in pre-season.
The Broncos haven’t won a premiership since 2006 and are mired in the longest title drought in their history, but they go into the Dolphins derby sitting on top of the league with three consecutive wins.
Walters says the soul searching the club undertook following last year’s ninth placing - missing the finals by one win - has motivated the Broncos to bring the premiership back to Red Hill this season.
“We made some tough decisions around our coaching staff, all for the betterment of the club, to make the club a better place which is why I’m here, to get the Broncos back to where we should be,” Walters said.
“I just felt that last year, at the end of the season, everyone in the club was heavily criticised for what had happened. In actual fact, it was a great learning curve for coaches and players about the NRL and how tough it is and how it can be soul destroying.
“So we all took that medicine last year, including our CEO, he took the same medicine and we put it into our pre-season with our training and with our connection amongst each other.
“Comparing the two pre-seasons, I felt we were in front compared to this time last year from a physical and preparation point of view.
“I just felt that would lead into good form in the opening games (of the 2023 season) and it has happened.
“It’s no fluke we are where we are because the players and everyone in the club worked hard to be better this year.
“There is a good saying, if you aren’t winning you are learning, so that’s the medicine we took last year and we are trying to put it into practice this year.”
The Broncos last week held a reunion of their 1993 and 1998 premiership sides and Walters, who played in both of those title wins, urged current stars Reece Walsh, Ezra Mam, Selwyn Cobbo and Pat Carrigan to build their own dynasty.
“What’s even more important is that this team now leaves a legacy,” Walters said.
“That’s been the instruction to this team, what they can achieve and the legacy they can leave.
“It’s fantastic for us to have reunions and lunches, but it’s now time for this team to really stand up.
“I want to see trust more than anything, that there is a trust that each guy will turn up every week ready to give his best.
“In my time playing, you couldn’t always be your best, but there was a trust that the moment you crossed that white line, it’s game on and that’s what I expect from this team.
“The early evidence shows this group has a lot of trust and mateship and that (a premiership win) is building for us.”
Walters said Brisbane’s late thrashing of the Dragons last week - they scored four tries in the final 10 minutes to win 40-18 - reminded him of the Broncos’ title-winning juggernauts.
“Back in the good old days at the Broncos, we used to really finish teams off,” he said.
“Last week was the first time I had seen it from a Broncos team in my time at the club.
“We finished the game so strongly. St George had put up a really good fight for a long period of time, but in the good old days we would wear a team down and that’s what we did.
“It was a great characteristic from the boys the other night to finish the game the way they did.
“The Dolphins are a great challenge, it’s great that they are in the competition. Competition is great not only for the game but for the Broncos, it’s made us look at ourselves sharply and fill gaps in our organisation.
“We’re doing everything as a club to get back to that great space we were in and this Friday night is all about that as well.”
DOLPHINS’ STUNNING MEMBER RAID IN BRONCOS BACKYARD
—Robert Craddock, Peter Badel
Rugby league’s turf war has exploded, with revelations the Dolphins have signed around 10,000 members from the Broncos’ backyard in inner-city Brisbane.
The Dolphins’ membership has raced to 25,000 after they opened the season with three consecutive wins to set up a Friday night blockbuster against the also undefeated Broncos at Suncorp Stadium.
But the intriguing fact is that there are as many members from Brisbane as there are from the Redcliffe region where the team is based.
“Forty per cent of our members live within a 15-kilometre radius of the Brisbane CBD and 40 per cent live within a 15 kilometre radius of Redcliffe,’’ Dolphins chief executive Terry Reader said.
“We have five per cent on the Sunshine Coast and the rest are scattered around Queensland and Australia. We could not have asked for a better start.
“We already had 20,000 members and since the Roosters game we have seen another 5000 sign up as we prepare for the Battle of Brisbane which will almost be like an Origin event in Brisbane.’’
Reader said the club’s search for new fans was producing anecdotal evidence of the code spreading its boundaries, such as a reference in The Courier-Mail about a female doctor talking to a Racecourse Rd boutique owner in Saabi coffee shop in Hendra about their sudden admiration for the Dolphins.
“Stories like that mean a lot to us because we are all about attracting new fans,” he said.
“The good thing is there are two teams in Brisbane and not everyone has liked the team who has been here for the last 35 years and they are getting on board and enjoying it because we offer something different and people are loving it.
“We were not given financial support or concessions from other codes.
“You didn’t hear us whinge. From day one we said we would have a team that surprised a few people and that is what has happened.’’
The presence of the Dolphins has spurred Broncos fans into action and their membership is also rising.
“For us, there is still only one team in Brisbane,’’ Broncos boss Dave Donaghy said.
“There is only team with Brisbane in their name and we need to ensure we focus on us and we will continue to do that.
“We have tipped over 35,000 members before the first opening game and that’s the first time we have done that in the history of the club.
“We are well on the way to 40,000 and for us as a club there is zero complacency, whether it’s the Dolphins, Titans or Cowboys.
“There will be a big build-up to the Dolphins-Broncos rivalry. We hear about it every single day, but for the fans of the game, they are going to love it and I can’t wait to battle it out.’’
The Dolphins have only two more games at their Redcliffe base – Kayo Stadium – and both will be sellouts.
Such is the demand for tickets to the Dolphins’ Redcliffe clashes that they are likely to be member-only affairs due to the boutique stadium’s 10,000-seat capacity.
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