Broncos’ capture of Anthony Seibold a stunning move, only soured by Kevin Walters’ heartbreak

FOR some Broncos supporters, knowing Kevin Walters missed out again will overshadow the anticipation of hiring the game’s most exciting young coach. But the backroom deals are part of the game, writes ROBERT CRADDOCK.

You can’t deny the Broncos have come out on top. (AAP Image/Joel Carrett)

• ‘Humbled’: Bennett named as Souths coach
• Kick in the guts for Broncos’ favourite son
• Bennett’s premiership promise to Broncos

IN the end it was like one of those kids birthday parties where there’s a prize for everyone — except the kid who deserved it most.

Actually Kevin Walters is not a kid any more. He’s 51 and that’s the sad part of the story.

For a decade or more we have dodged writing this sentence but today, with no joy whatsoever, we can say it without fear of contradiction — Kevin Walters will never coach the Broncos.

You can’t deny the Broncos have come out on top. (AAP Image/Joel Carrett)

Lord knows he deserved a crack. In an age of diminished club loyalty Walters raw hunger for the Broncos job stood out like Steve Waugh’s love of the baggy green cap.

For some club supporters the sadness of knowing Walters missed out overshadows any sort of anticipation at looking forward to the arrival of Seibold, heralded as league’s new coaching genius on the strength of his one season at Souths.

Walters earned the chance he never got.

It’s genuinely sad to see him miss out because nearly every team he has played for or coached has won something and his personality would, at the very least, had galvanised the fan base and the fractured Broncos old boys’ network.

It’s tough on the former Broncos player and assistant coach. (Peter Wallis)

Walters was never going to out-talk the cerebral Seibold in the interview process because he is too humble to be a super salesman.

The dressing room, the training paddock and the coach’s box are his natural habitat. The board room is not.

One of the defining sentences of his career was “mate, I’m from Ipswich — we don’t have smoke and mirrors up there’’ but he still has a great ability to make players happy and connect with them as people.

Rugby league’s merry-go-round will deliver an extraordinary season where Bennett and Seibold know they are swapping positions at the end of it.

It makes for great copy, fascinating duels and intriguing subplots — but it also exposes the game for being a shallow circus in which the loyalty of fans is often far greater than the loyalty of many who play or coach it.

Bennett proved that even at 68 he is a force to be reckoned with in the shadowy game of musical mentors.

He was born with a poker face and he kept it to the end by making all the right moves including staying at the Broncos next season where he might just be up for a farewell premiership which would be slapped on the table like a poker player declaring a full house.

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