NRL 2021: Broncos prop Payne Haas urges teammates to fight for Kevin Walters’ future as coach

Staring at their worst opening to a campaign in their 33-year history, the Broncos badly need victory this weekend - and not just for the sake of their credibility.

Broncos coach Kevin Walters gives instructions to Jake Turpin at training. Picture: Albert Perez/Getty Images

Broncos enforcer Payne Haas concedes Kevin Walters’ job is on the line unless Brisbane players haul the NRL’s richest club back into finals contention.

The inspirational Haas has challenged Brisbane players to fire up for the sake of Walters’ future at Red Hill as the Broncos prepare for Friday night’s derby against the Titans at Suncorp Stadium.

The Broncos are mired in the club’s slowest start to a season since 1999 and will officially record Brisbane’s worst opening to a campaign in their 33-year history if they suffer a seventh loss from eight starts against their Queensland rivals.

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Kevin Walters’ job is on the line unless the Broncos start showing improvement on the field. Picture: Albert Perez/Getty Images

Walters only has a two-year contract with the Broncos, meaning the club legend faces being sacked as coach in 2022 if the reigning wooden spooners crash out of finals contention once again.

Haas said he has enormous respect for Walters’ playing record, headlined by 241 games and five premierships for the Broncos, but Brisbane players could have blood on their hands if their weekly drubbings lead to ‘Kevvie’s’ demise as coach.

“It is up to us, it’s not always the coach’s fault,” Haas said before the round-eight Titans showdown.

“I believe Kevvie is a good coach and he is the right man for this club.

“It’s us players (to blame) ... we haven’t been performing as a team and I feel like we have let Kevvie down a lot. From the start of this week, we have to get the job done.”

Walters is the first to admit he cannot afford back-to-back failed seasons and his desire to spearhead a Red Hill revival has been evident in the past fortnight with passionate dressing-room speeches against the Panthers and Parramatta.

The former Queensland coach lashed his side after last week’s 46-6 debacle in Darwin, holding up the Brisbane jersey in the sheds and asking his troops if they truly understood the DNA of the Broncos jumper.

There is view Walters needs a longer-term deal to haul the Broncos out of the wooden-spoon mess left by Anthony Seibold, but he insists he will not pressure the board to give him more time.

“I can’t comment on whether I get a longer-term deal. I’m just doing the best I can right now,” he said. “We have a lot of strengths here at the Broncos, we have seen some positives this year but we strengthen a few positions.

“Every top-four team has a dominant playmaker. That is not something that has just dawned upon me, I know it’s a key area for us to address and that’s what we are looking to do.

“I honestly believe we aren’t too far away as a club.”

Haas said it was frustrating not living up to Brisbane’s golden past.

“No one here at the Broncos wants to be a loser,” he said. “You always think about the success of the past, it is frustrating and it’s hard to be going through this.

“I have all the faith in the boys to turn things around, but we have to stay patient.”

Brisbane’s largest private shareholder Phil Murphy, who owns 22 per cent of the Broncos, lamented the rebuilding mission for Walters.

Broncos prop Payne Haas said the Brisbane players are letting Kevin Walters down. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images

“I feel so sorry for Kevin,” Murphy said.

“He has inherited a poisoned chalice and he isn’t getting the leadership to help him. The club hasn’t even had a CEO for the past three months.

“He did a great job for Queensland at Origin level and is a wonderful bloke, but he has been thrown in the deep end at the Broncos.

“Kevvie has been handed the equivalent of a mansion that has been bulldozed to the ground. The mansion is in ruins and someone is asking Kevin to rebuild it piece by piece. That’s the task ahead of him.

“It would be very difficult for him at the moment.”