NRL 2022: Kevin Walters hits back at criticism of Adam Reynolds for drinking while injured
Kevin Walters has launched a strong defence of Broncos skipper Adam Reynolds and has a defiant message for those questioning the star’s professionalism.
NRL
Don't miss out on the headlines from NRL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Broncos coach Kevin Walters has blasted criticism of Adam Reynolds’ Magic Round behaviour as “bull****” and insists Brisbane’s skipper is not a long-term injury risk following his latest setback.
Brisbane’s marquee $2.4 million recruit has suffered an injury double whammy, missing last week’s 36-12 rout of Newcastle due to groin soreness before a fresh hamstring concern saw Reynolds ruled out of Friday night’s derby against the Titans.
Reynolds has been in brilliant touch over the past six weeks — firing the Broncos into the top six — but his leadership came under the spotlight following revelations he partied at the casino following Brisbane’s 38-0 Magic Round mauling of Manly.
Stream every game of every round of the 2022 NRL Telstra Premiership Season Live & Ad-Break Free During Play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-days free now.
The 31-year-old suffered a groin strain in the Sea Eagles clash and there is a view his alcohol-fuelled night out was a factor in his inability to recover in time to face the Knights six days later.
On Tuesday, Reynolds endured another setback, finishing training early after reporting hamstring tightness, prompting Walters to sideline his skipper for the Titans clash as Brisbane take no risks with their star recruit entering the crucial Origin season.
It was reported Reynolds told Broncos football boss Ben Ikin he wasn’t drinking, only for footage to emerge of the Brisbane skipper imbibing with assistant coach Allan Langer at the Caxton Hotel.
Breaking his silence on the issue, Walters hit out at critics of Reynolds, rubbishing suggestions the Broncos skipper’s Magic Round night out impacted on his rehabilitation at a time of back-to-back injuries.
Walters’ backing of Reynolds comes six weeks after the Broncos coach put Pat Carrigan on notice for drinking alcohol just hours after injuring his knee against the Warriors in round 4.
“We have dealt with that internally,” Walters said of Reynolds’ night out.
“I don’t really want to go too much into it, it’s bull**** in my eyes to be honest.
“His form this year has been outstanding and the boys and the coaching staff have been really impressed with what he has delivered in his time here and the standards he drives.
“We brought Adam here to win games for the Broncos and he is doing exactly that.
“I can’t be happier with Adam’s contribution to the club so we’re moving on from it.”
Reynolds’ Magic Round saga is hardly the crime of the century but it underlines the searing spotlight on Brisbane’s main man _ and why the Broncos need their halfback Ferrari in tip-top condition.
Reynolds has ridden an injury-and-illness rollercoaster at Red Hill. He missed the entire pre-season due to “general soreness”, before being a late scratching for his round 1 blockbuster against former club South Sydney after contracting Covid.
The halfback maestro then strung together nine successive games to inspire Brisbane’s five-match winning streak which has put them in finals contention.
Walters said Reynolds’ latest injuries are not serious and expects him to be fit for their next clash against Canberra on June 11, when Brisbane return from a round 13 bye.
“Adam has a slight hamstring strain, so it’s not worth the risk of playing him and possibly causing any more damage,” Walters said.
“It’s not an injury really, he just felt some tightness and he was a bit uncomfortable.
“He didn’t finish training so we are taking every precaution.
“We have the bye the following week so I’m confident Adam will be fit for our next game against the Raiders, that’s the plan.”
HOW WALTERS, BRONCOS STARTED A KEV-OLUTION
Travis Meyn and Peter Badel
Kevin Walters never lost faith in his coaching ability during the turbulent mission to transform the “basket case” Brisbane Broncos into an NRL premiership contender.
The ‘Kev-olution’ is in full swing at Red Hill with the Broncos on a five-game winning streak for the first time since 2017 and fighting for a spot in the NRL’s top four.
It has been nearly three years since the Broncos last played NRL finals football, with the proud club coming off the worst two seasons in its 34-year history, which included collecting the 2020 wooden spoon.
Stream every game of every round of the 2022 NRL Telstra Premiership Season Live & Ad-Break Free During Play on Kayo. New to Kayo? Try 14-days free now.
For a six-time premiership-winning powerhouse and the NRL’s richest club, the crash of the Broncos following the exit of foundation coach Wayne Bennett in 2018 was emphatic.
But Australia’s biggest sporting franchise is back where it belongs, firmly in the top eight nearing the halfway point of the 2022 season after Walters defied his critics to lead a Red Hill revolution.
“I’ve always believed in myself, that’s one thing I’ve always had,” Walters told News Corp. “I wouldn’t have taken the job on if I didn’t feel that I was ready for it.
“It is a big job and I feel like we are getting things in place. We’ve got the right people in the building now to improve things and make it better.
“It’s moving along nicely at the moment but rugby league never sleeps and we don’t know what’s around the corner.”
THE RISE OF KEVVIE
The Broncos were at rock bottom in September 2020 when Anthony Seibold was sacked and Walters finally secured his dream job to coach the club he won five premierships with.
But it has been far from smooth sailing.
The Broncos showed little improvement in the early stages of Walters’ tenure and crawled to a 14th-place finish last year on the back of an encouraging finish to the season.
After being overlooked for the Broncos’ job in 2019, the jury was still out on whether Walters had what it took to thrive in the NRL pressure cooker.
However Walters never lost faith. New CEO Dave Donaghy started in May last year and one of his key appointments was recruiting the sharp-thinking Ben Ikin as head of football.
The building blocks were there and the Broncos’ “Big Three” just needed time to put their plan into action.
“When I got here last year, Kevvie was only six months into his first-ever coaching gig in the NRL and he’d inherited a basket case,” Ikin said.
“The goal for everybody was to get better together. To understand this rebuild wasn’t going to be easy and it was going to take some time.
“Once the footy program started to improve and we learnt how to work with each other and get clear on where we wanted to be and how we were going to get there, that was ultimately going to find its way to the playing group, which is what we are starting to see.
“Because the Broncos are such a high-profile club that has such high expectations, both internally and externally, it’s hard to hold your nerve when the noise is getting really loud.
“But to everyone’s credit from the board through to Dave, and especially Kevvie, we are seeing some results.
“Kevvie is in the toughest job in the club. To hold his nerve and believe in what he wanted to do and everyone support that is a credit to him and a credit to everyone.”
SILENCING THE CRITICS
For a champion player that won six premierships and represented Queensland and Australia, Walters has had to prove himself in the coaches’ box.
He had a challenging tenure at Super League club Catalans, was third choice for the Maroons Origin job in 2016 and lost out to Seibold in 2018 following a shambolic appointment process at the Broncos.
His critics haven’t needed much ammunition to fire and the blowtorch was on Walters last year, and then again this season as the Broncos slumped to four straight losses.
“I cop heat every now and then but nowhere near what he’s copped. Last year was hard to see,” said Walters’ son Billy, the Broncos’ current No.9.
“Even when he was Origin coach, you’d see people spraying him and getting into him. They seem to forget he won six comps and played nearly 300 games. He knows what he’s doing.
“You have to ignore the comments. He’s doing his best and knows what he’s doing and it’s starting to show now.
“He always knew it wouldn’t be ‘get to the Broncos and win the comp first year’. A lot needed to change. People moved on. He knew it’d be a big job to turn the Broncos around.
“You can see the culture’s changed and we’re heading in the right direction.”
Walters’ tenacity is starting to reflect in the way the Broncos are playing. They are a more resilient team that is fighting and scrapping for every play. Walters simply didn’t accept losing as a player.
“Kevvie has proven in his career that he is a winner,” Ikin said.
“As a player he had a competitiveness, drive and underpinning that was his passion for the Broncos. As a coach, that’s infectious.
“I’ve spoken to many sacked head coaches and successful ones and they are amazed at how much better they are in year five or year 10 than they were in year one and two.
“You come into the job thinking you know it all and at some level you have to believe that, otherwise others won’t buy in, but the one thing about Kevvie that will not change and is so intrinsic to him is his competitive nature.
“He wants to get the Broncos back to the top and I have no doubt he will get better with every year he stays in the role. To see Kevvie come through a tough first year and grow the team the way he has this year, I’m so happy for him.
“He had a very clear idea on how he wanted his team to play. He had to get clear on that and that’s not just educating players, it’s also about him growing into the role and getting better at communicating that to everyone.”
RIDING TO THE FINALS
Brisbane’s last appearance in the NRL finals was a 58-0 defeat to Parramatta in week one of the 2019 series under Seibold.
At the time it was the club’s worst defeat, but the 2020 Broncos eclipsed that when they surrendered 59-0 to the Roosters, one of many heavy defeats in the 2020-21 seasons.
There is no doubt the recruitment of experienced performers such as Adam Reynolds and Kurt Capewell has played a huge role in Brisbane’s revival this year.
Walters realised he needed new cattle to take the Broncos back to where they belong and he made it happen with the support of Donaghy, Ikin and Brisbane’s board.
Now Walters is overseeing the emergence of the next generation of Broncos, with the likes of Selwyn Cobbo, Payne Haas and Kotoni Staggs to lead Brisbane into a new era.
Walters, 54, has secured his future at the Broncos until at least the end of 2023 and he believes this only just the beginning of what’s to come.
“I love coming into work,” Walters said.
“It’s not that I didn’t love it last year, but it was a lot tougher. I feel like all the coaches are more settled and we’re starting to get our feet well and truly under the desk.
“The players are responding with good attitudes and performances. It’s a very enjoyable place to be around at the moment.
“We’ve had our tough moments this year like losing four games in a row which isn’t great and a week is a long time in football.
“We are all working hard, the players in particular, and we’ve got to maintain those standards because that is the level we can play.
“We have to be consistent and we’ve got that about us now. We’ve got to keep going with it.”
After two embarrassing seasons, the Broncos can solidify their top eight position with a win against the Gold Coast Titans in Friday night’s derby at Suncorp Stadium before the taxing State of Origin period begins.
The finals haven’t been spoken about at Red Hill because, quite frankly, it’s an expectation for the Broncos, not a goal.
“This is not tiddlywinks. This is professional elite rugby league,” Ikin said.
“Not one person here has openly spoken about playing finals. We never sat in a room and said ‘we have to make the top eight’, but we all knew it was the unspoken expectation.
“We have the people, the talent, the resources, the facility and all the tools we need to be a great club. It’s now incumbent upon everyone who works at the Broncos to make that happen.
“We are not the finished product. We are better than what we were, but we are still a way off where we want to be.
“The goal for every club every year is to be the best you can possibly be.”
And for Walters, that means winning premierships. Always has, always will.
Cleary’s recovery paradise on getaway with Fowler
Matildas star Mary Fowler has shared a glimpse into her romantic European getaway with Panthers champion Nathan Cleary.
NSW-style reality check: Haas opens up on life under Madge
Payne Haas got his first glimpse of life under Michael Maguire in Blues camp and it flicked a switch in him. Now the star forward is ready, as Madge brings a NSW-style reality check to Brisbane.