Brisbane Broncos special report: Post-season review delivers mixed verdict on Kevin Walters

The Brisbane Broncos have the talent to compete for a premiership - but do they have the right coach pulling the reins? Part Four of our special report analyses Kevin Walters’ strengths and weaknesses.

“Any coach would give their right testicle to have this Broncos roster”.

That comment, made by a rival NRL coach, provides a compelling insight into the respect for Brisbane’s full-time squad and the slew of talent that is cherry ripe to break the Broncos’ 19-year premiership drought.

Few in the code would dispute Brisbane have the roster to be contenders for the 2025 premiership.

The challenge for besieged coach Kevin Walters, who has been guaranteed to start the new season by Broncos CEO Dave Donaghy, is to harness the individual brilliance and deliver a fully-formed champion team to clinch Brisbane’s first title since 2006.

The beauty of Storm coach Craig Bellamy, Walters’ rival in Thursday night’s final-round clash at Suncorp Stadium, is his capacity to use the NRL’s $11.6 million salary cap and make Melbourne look like a $15 million juggernaut.

Bellamy, almost annually, extracts more than the sum of Melbourne’s parts.

The Storm’s system makes the player, not the other way around.

Whether Walters is skilled enough to sift through Brisbane’s post-season review, repair the broken confidence of his playing group, hold his nerve against a rising tide of criticism and back his systems will determine whether he survives beyond next season.

“I know Kev is really disappointed about our back half of the year,” Donaghy said.

“He obviously wears his heart on the sleeve and he feels it more than anyone and tries his best not to show it, but it’s been a challenging year for all of us.

“We’ll continue to invest in our footy program and put the pieces around him to ensure that we’re successful.

“We’ll be going through our post-season review and we will be drilling down into every area.”

Kevin Walters will coach the Broncos to start 2025 – but will he finish the season in the role? Picture NRL Photos

CAN KEVVIE TALK TOUGH

One point of comfort for Walters is that he hasn’t lost the dressing room. To a man, Brisbane players respect Walters’ title-winning portfolio as a player and passion for the Broncos jumper, but there is a view the coach is indecisive and reluctant to have tough conversations.

One player overlooked for NRL selection approached Walters seeking feedback to explain the reasons for his omission. He walked away confused and none-the-wiser, feeling Walters failed to adequately explain what he needed to do to fight his way back into the team.

When Jamayne Isaako left the Broncos midway through 2022, he claimed he was “wiped” by Walters. Craving clarity of message, he was left with no idea of where he stood with Walters.

Under Wayne Bennett at the Dolphins last season, Isaako became the NRL’s top pointscorer and tryscorer and is now playing the best football of his career.

“I just didn’t feel like I was getting anything from any of the coaching staff there (at the Broncos),” Isaako recalled.

“At the time, I wanted to be somewhere where I was going to be coached properly and get the advice I needed as a player.”

Kevin Walters (R) cut his teeth as an assistant coach under Wayne Bennett (L). Picture: Peter Wallis

WALTERS’ SMALL CIRCLE OF TRUST

By his own admission, Walters, who keeps a tight circle, finds it difficult to trust.

Whereas his great mentor Bennett possesses a granitelike self-belief that has helped him stand the test of time in the brutal world of NRL coaching, Walters is a more sensitive soul and, at times, paranoid about the forces swirling around him.

There is a view Walters categorises people in two groups. Those that are blindly loyal, or disloyal.

When Bennett moved to Souths after his sacking at the Broncos, Walters still called him for advice.

Football IQ is not Walters’ problem. Broncos insiders laud the 56-year-old’s instincts and it was his ability to harmonise a fractured club that underpinned Brisbane’s surge to last year’s grand final. But under pressure this season, Walters’ strength of leadership has been tested.

“Things didn’t quite happen the way we’d liked (this year), so I’m not happy,” Walters said.

“We’ll be better for the lessons learnt.

“Regardless of the review, I know myself as a coach, I’ve learnt a lot this year about certain things so we’ll take that into next year and turn it into a positive.”

Broncos legend Corey Parker was a former assistant coach to Walters. Parker left the club in 2021 after being told by Walters he was surplus to requirements.

“The first thing that people say about Kevvie is that he’s fun. I can’t comment on whether he needs to be tougher on his players, because I’m not there day to day,” said the former skipper.

“But what I do know is that as a boss or head coach, you need to have the willingness to square someone up or have a hard conversation. It doesn’t matter who they are. If you make decisions based on the betterment of the club, they will be the right ones.

“When you start making decisions based on individuals, that’s when you compromise standards.”

THE BENNETT-STYLE 2006 SHAKE-UP

When the Broncos bombed out of the title race way back in 2005, Bennett sacked his entire coaching staff, ironically including Walters, and hired a new team of assistants.

The following season, Bennett took Brisbane to the 2006 premiership, still their most recent title.

Now Walters is following a similar template.

Entering his fifth season as head coach, ‘Kevvie’ will welcome new assistants Trent Barrett and Ben Te’o following the impending departure of John Cartwright (Hull KR) and his former Warrington teammate Lee Briers (St Helens).

At this stage, the Broncos have not signed a single player for their 2025 roster, meaning any improvements must come from their existing playing group, the fresh coaching eyes of Te’o and Barrett and Walters himself.

The jury is out on Walters’ assistants. Barrett has failed as head coach at Manly and Canterbury. His career success rate is 30.5 per cent. At the Bulldogs, Barrett won five of 34 games for a woeful strike rate of 14.7 per cent. As interim coach at the Eels this season, Barrett has won three of 14 games.

Te’o was one of the most feared defensive hitters of his generation, who won a premiership at South Sydney in 2014 and played State of Origin for Queensland. He has impressed Bennett with his coaching journey at the Dolphins. A sharp, no-nonsense operator, Te’o’s straight-shooting style could be the hard edge Brisbane’s rising forwards require.

“We’ve got some new faces around Kev within the coaching group next year,” Donaghy said.

“As disappointed as everyone is, the playing group is still really close.

“They’re good mates and Kev has created this environment where 12 months ago we were getting great growth out of everyone.

“This year, for many and varied reasons, we’ve taken a fair step backwards. We’ve got to lean into the review period and identify the areas that we need to bolster and need to sharpen up to make sure we have a bounce back next year.”

Craig Bellamy found life tough living under the Broncos spotlight. Picture: AAP Image/Dave Hunt

HOW RELENTLESS BRISBANE SHOCKED BELLAMY

If anyone can empathise with the Red Hill coaching furnace, it is Storm super coach Bellamy.

Bellamy and Walters are great mates. They go back 35 years to the embryonic days of the Canberra Raiders. Bellamy became an assistant coach to Bennett at the Broncos between 1998-2002 and during his five-season stint, Brisbane won two premierships with Walters in the halves.

The Broncos have tried three times to poach Bellamy. Each time, they failed. Bellamy has stayed loyal to the Storm for 21 years.

There’s no doubt Bellamy’s understanding of the Brisbane landscape, with a high-octane, relentless focus on every move at the Broncos, has partly motivated his desire to remain largely anonymous in a city of Melbourne besotted with the AFL.

Bellamy, a three-time premiership winner, watched Walters go within three minutes of winning last year’s title. He says sacking Walters would be a knee-jerk reaction.

“I’d find it really severe (if Walters was sacked), especially after he led them to a grand final last year,” Bellamy said.

“I know their performances haven’t been what they wanted, but everyone in the club would be disappointed.

“What they did last year should mean everyone deserves another shot at it.

“Sometimes things can go wrong and it’s hard to put your finger on what has gone wrong.

“I’m sure they’ll have an idea.

“If you look on the bright side, which would be hard for the Broncos at the moment, there’ll be a lot of learnings from this year and I’m sure Kevvie will be taking them on.”

Bellamy says few clubs in Australian sport are as scrutinised as the Broncos.

“You don’t understand how much pressure there is in Brisbane,” he said.

“That was a real shock to me – the pressure on the team, players and whole club at times.

“I came from Canberra and we had rugby union there and the AFL was reasonably popular as well.

“In 1998 I went up to the Broncos and it was a really talented team, maybe the most talented team I’ve ever been involved with, and we won the comp. I thought it was Christmas every day.

“Then in 1999 there was a lot of pressure and we had a real struggle. We only won one out of 10 games to start and just scraped into the finals.

“Then in 2000 we won the comp again.

“Wayne (Bennett) was used to the pressure up there and knowing rugby league was king. He was experienced with coaching the Broncos and knew how to get around it and we did, but it was a tough year.”

GLARING ISSUE IN LAZY BRONCOS

Rugby league now has reams of statistics for fans to devour but one area rarely discussed that is valued by NRL coaches is ‘push supports’.

In other words, having bodies in motion; players working off the ball, constantly moving, decoy runners that give playmakers options in a bid to bamboozle and dismantle a defensive line.

Kurt Capewell was one of Brisbane’s best push-support players. His departure to the New Zealand Warriors this season left a gaping void in Brisbane’s off-the-ball mentality.

Former Broncos lock Parker says Brisbane had too many lazy players this season. The best teams, Melbourne and Penrith, have a religious zeal for push supports.

“Here’s a good example of one percenters and you will see this on Thursday night against the Storm,” Parker said.

“The Broncos aren’t committed to push supports.

“It’s a team-effort thing. Every player in the NRL knows it. No-one gets a wrap for it and no-one counts them, no-one gets a stat for it. But push supports create positivity in the offensive line and movement, but it also creates instability from a defensive point of view.

“For example, if Pat Carrigan gave up one run and ran as hard as he could as a push support for a fellow forward, such as Corey Jensen, it keeps the defence guessing.

“Being a push support means being a genuine pass option for whoever is running the ball.

“It shows hunger, work ethic and commitment.

“The Storm and Penrith are good at it and look where they are on the ladder. The Broncos were doing it last year. When you see that flow, everyone is moving as one and you have bodies in motion.

“It’s an effort-based area … and I’m not seeing that at Brisbane this year.

“They need tougher and harder standards next season.

“Kevvie of all people should be aware of it, because ultimately if the standards aren’t acceptable and he doesn’t make the changes, it won’t be on the players, it will be on him.

“It’s in his best interests to make the tough calls. It’s about what he stands for and what he will accept.

“Do they want to win? Yes. All NRL players want to win. But do they want to win everything? I don’t know with this group. It’s easy for everyone to say, ‘I want to win’ but what are you prepared to do to win.”

THE REVIEW: BRISBANE’S WAKE-UP CALL

Including Brisbane’s wooden-spoon debacle of 2020, the Broncos have missed the finals four times in five seasons. It’s the worst stretch in their proud 36-year history. The $60 million Broncos empire with a record 60,000 members will not tolerate incessant failure.

Donaghy says the response next year must be as emphatic as it is immediate.

“We want to win the premiership every year,” says the Broncos boss.

“You can’t have a greater goal than that.

“The reality is this year we’ve fallen well short. But we will absolutely review every part of the year. We will look under every rock that we need to, to identify the areas where we fell short and we will set in motion a plan to get us back to where we get closer to where our goal is, which is delivering sustainable success.

“I think we can take some inspiration from Alastair Clarkson (former AFL coach) at Hawthorn. They won the comp in 2008, then missed the finals the following year, then recovered and went on a dynasty, winning a hat-trick of premierships.”

Over to you, Kevin Walters.