Brisbane Broncos coach Kevin Walters gives his players licence to throw the ball around this season
Cricket has Bazball, now the NRL will get Kevball. The Broncos’ mentor has urged his troops to play ‘flat and fast’ in their first game of the season after going into their shells in the final stages of last year’s heartbreaking grand final.
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Cricket has Bazball. Now the NRL can get ready for ‘Kevball’.
Broncos coach Kevin Walters has given his troops a licence to thrill this season, with Brisbane vowing to launch a “flat and fast” assault on the Roosters in Sunday’s premiership opener in Las Vegas.
The English team has breathed life into Test cricket with a controversial new style under coach Brendon McCullum that encourages an attacking, aggressive attitude from the opening ball.
Now Walters is imploring Brisbane to back themselves under pressure this season, believing his side went away from playing “Broncos football” in the final quarter of last season’s heartbreaking grand-final collapse against the Panthers.
There is a view the more compact field at Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium, which is six metres shorter and five metres narrower than a traditional NRL arena, will stifle attack in the historic double header.
But Walters has urged his big guns to roll the dice in America’s gaming capital, with five-eighth Ezra Mam believing Allegiant’s smaller field can be the catalyst for Brisbane to rip the Roosters apart up the middle.
“With the space being a bit smaller, we have to go through them flat and fast,” Mam said.
“We have a great forward pack to do that.
“If our forwards play well, it’s up to us spine members to play off the back of it.”
The Broncos were free-wheeling towards a drought-breaking premiership last season when they led 24-8 with 18 minutes to play against a shellshocked Penrith in the 2023 decider.
Having reviewed the grand final, Walters believes the Broncos went into their shell and played too safe.
What eventuated was the greatest grand-final collapse in NRL history as the Panthers stormed home to break Brisbane’s hearts, sparking an off-season of soul searching.
In 2024, Walters doesn’t want the Broncos to adopt an attitude of conservatism with a handy lead, with strike centre Kotoni Staggs insisting Brisbane will go for the jugular against the Roosters in Sin City.
“The grand final loss was pretty tough to take,” he said.
“You don’t get those opportunities (to win a premiership) often.
“We have learnt a lot from that as players and a whole team.
“Moving forward, when we have teams on the back foot, we need to finish them off.
“We have done pretty well in the pre-season (trials) and if we get that opportunity this year, we will put the icing on the cake.”
The Broncos will have their penultimate training session in Los Angeles on Tuesday morning (AEDT) before flying to Vegas 48 hours before their clash with the Roosters.
Back-rower Jordan Riki says the pain of last season’s grand-final capitulation has motivated Brisbane’s attacking Big Three - Mam, Reece Walsh and skipper Adam Reynolds - to turn the screws on rivals.
“We have such exciting players in our team, we can pull off some amazing stuff,” he said.
“We went away from Broncos footy (when leading in the grand final) and that’s exciting footy and turning up for each other on defence.
“We went away from that in the last 20 minutes of the grand final.
“Unfortunately that hurt us in the long run, but we believe we have the team to win it and we are willing to do the hard work again this season.”
Walsh’s NFL bombshell as he waits for Kevvie’s $4m call
Broncos superstar Reece Walsh has revealed he will sign a lucrative new deal to stay at Brisbane but says he is open to one day testing himself in the NFL.
The Broncos have kicked-off talks with Walsh’s management on a $4 million-plus extension as Brisbane’s pin-up boy prepares to light up America in their historic season opener against the Roosters in Las Vegas this Sunday.
But Brisbane’s session at the Los Angeles Rams’ training facility on Sunday (AEST), coupled with their VIP visit to watch LeBron James’ LA Lakers the previous night, has given Walsh a glorious taste of sporting stardom in America.
Walsh isn’t quitting the Broncos anytime soon. He is contracted until the end of next year and in the coming months, Brisbane’s fullback phenom will ink an extension until the end of 2028 or 2029 and become the club’s next $1 million player.
Long term, however, Walsh has the talent, charisma, scorching speed and sporting ambition to emulate the likes of Jarryd Hayne and Valentine Holmes by rolling the dice in American Football.
At 21, Walsh has goals to achieve in the NRL, chiefly breaking Brisbane’s 18-year premiership drought, but the Queensland Origin maestro left the door ajar for a shock defection to the NFL.
Asked if he would consider a stint in American football, Walsh said: “I’m not too sure. I’m so early in my career.
“Those boys (Jarryd Hayne and Val Holmes) did a lot in their careers and then made the change.
“I have so much more I want to do in the game but maybe in a few years I would ... we’ll see what happens.”
Walsh is lapping up the LA sporting life.
At Brisbane’s first official training session at the Rams facility, Walsh met LA guard Steve Avila, a man mountain at 151kg, before trying on some gridiron gloves as he sprinted onto some precision passes from Broncos prop-cum-quarterback Martin Taupau.
“It’s crazy,” Walsh said of Brisbane’s visit to the Rams and Lakers.
“It’s cool to experience this stuff.
“As a kid you watch all the (American) sports and wonder how it is.
“To come over here and wear these (American Football) gloves, trying to catch their ball, it’s cool. it’s an awesome experience and I’m very grateful for it.”
Walsh, wearing shiny white and blue gloves, enjoyed his impromptu American Football session so much he had a message for NRL chief executive Andrew Abdo.
“Now that I have these gloves on, I’m going to be hitting up Abdo for an exemption to wear them (against the Roosters), so we’ll see how we go,” Walsh said with a laugh.
“It was awesome. We watch the sport (NFL) and you wonder how they make those catches and do the amazing things they do.
“We were driving into the Lakers game (on Friday night) and there’s just so many people.
“You hear about the population of the United States and when you get over here, there’s people everywhere.
“They have a good culture and they love their sport, so I’m loving it.”
While Walsh has been seduced by the Land of Opportunity, he has unfinished business at the Broncos.
He was left gutted by Brisbane’s grand-final loss last season and with Ezra Mam, Payne Haas and Pat Carrigan having signed long-term deals, Walsh wants to follow suit and win a premiership ring.
“I thought ‘Kev’ (coach Kevin Walters) lost my number, I’m still waiting for a call from him,” said Walsh of his impending Broncos upgrade.
“I’m sure all of that will get sorted out.
“I just have to play good footy and let my footy do the talking.
“I would love to secure a long-term (deal). I’m really grateful to have support at the Broncos. I have good media staff around me in Steele (Tallon) and Mel (Mallet), they take a lot of the load off me and ‘Kevvie’ has played a big part in looking after me as well.
BRISBANE STAR ROPES IN TOUCHDOWN AS BRONCOS GET TASTE OF NFL
Step aside Reece Walsh … another Broncos young gun may have a future in the NFL.
Tristan Sailor showcased his American football skills with a spectacular touchdown that put the finishing touches on Brisbane’s first official training session on American soil on Sunday morning (AEST).
After battling scorching temperatures as high as 37 degrees in the Brisbane summer, the Broncos are relishing the cooler climes of Los Angeles, kicking off training at 12 degrees at California Lutheran University.
The CLU precinct is home to the temporary training base of NFL Los Angeles Rams, whose monster 151kg guard Steve Avila was on hand to greet Broncos players as they arrived for the first time.
And Avila would have been impressed by the handiwork of Sailor – the son of club great Wendell – who provided the highlight of the morning with a sublime touchdown as the Broncos cooled down following a 90-minute hitout.
With Martin Taupau operating as the biggest quarterback in the USA, the 115kg Broncos prop channelled Tom Brady and threw a pinpoint pass to Sailor, who resembled an NFL wide receiver as he flew through the air to touch down.
Broncos players and Rams staffers clapped and cheered as Sailor broke into a trademark touchdown dance celebration to complete a solid session for Brisbane ahead of their season opener against the Roosters in Vegas this Sunday.
Several Broncos, including Ezra Mam, Reece Walsh and Jesse Arthars, tried on American Football helmets and gloves and were blown away by how heavy and restrictive the apparel was.
“It’s been good to wear the gear for the first time and experience a bit of NFL,” Mam said.
“It’s really different (to rugby league).
“The helmets are heavy, it’s like you have a 10kg plate on your head.
“You can’t see much (with the helmet on), you are just stuck in a little cage.
“It’s different, but the gloves really help. You can’t drop too much with this grip on.”
The NFL and NRL share similar acronyms but they are worlds apart financially.
While the Broncos’ 30-man roster is worth $12 million under NRL salary-cap rules, the Rams squad’s total contracted value is a head-spinning $US206.8 million ($315.4m).
That’s more than the entire worth of the National Rugby League competition – the 17 clubs spend $204m collectively under the salary cap.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford is his franchise’s highest-paid player on $US49.5 million ($75.5), meaning he earns 75 times more than Brisbane’s top salary earner Payne Haas, who is on $1m.
While the Rams’ roster is worth squillions, their temporary training base at CLU is spartan _ and bears a close resemblance to the Broncos’ old set-up at Red Hill before they moved into their $27 million Clive Berghofer facility.
The Rams won the 2022 Super Bowl training at CLU and the Broncos looked right at home with the basic features that helped Brisbane claim six premierships from a tiny Red Hill gym.
“Training at the LA Rams facility, it’s unreal,” centre Kotoni Staggs said.
“It’s an eye-opener.
“We finished training and then we got the gridiron pads on and got to wear what they wear.
“You always say, ‘How do they play with the pads and helmets on?’ The helmets are really heavy.
“I’m loving it over here. We are growing the game and representing the Brisbane Broncos, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“There will be a lot of people watching at home and in America, so we want to bring our best footy.”
Key Broncos forwards Pat Carrigan and Brendan Piakura initially trained away from the main group.
Piakura had his left knee heavily strapped after damaging his MCL in last week’s trial against the Cowboys, while Carrigan had minor groin soreness after playing extended minutes in the same game in Mackay.
But both are expected to play in Vegas, with Carrigan and Piakura later joining the main squad for an opposed session on a CLU field made smaller to suit the exact dimensions of Vegas’ Allegiant Stadium.
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