NRL 2022: Broncos star Adam Reynolds has Kevvie Walters’ back amid bubbling front-office drama
Broncos captain Adam Reynolds has thrown his support behind Kevin Walters’ premiership blueprint despite some off-field ructions that are still causing some instability.
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Broncos captain Adam Reynolds has urged the club to keep faith in coach Kevin Walters’ premiership blueprint as Brisbane chiefs consider restructuring Ben Ikin’s role as football boss.
The Sunday Mail can reveal Broncos chief executive Dave Donaghy is putting their front-office under the microscope and is set to deliver a redefined role for Ikin to strengthen Brisbane’s football department next season.
The development comes as Reynolds and Broncos Old Boys boss Chris Johns implored club hierarchy to back the coach’s vision for success amid revelations of professional tensions between Walters and Ikin this season.
As revealed by News Corp last week, Broncos powerbrokers held high-level talks with Walters and Ikin to ensure the duo are “on the same page” and avoid a potentially damaging rift at Red Hill.
Sources say Ikin, appointed head of football in June 2021, has been increasingly marginalised and frozen out of key footballing decisions by Walters, his former halves partner in Brisbane’s 2000 premiership win.
At the core of the issue is Walters’ desire to control the football department as head coach — and how much input Ikin is keen to have in the running of Brisbane’s NRL program.
Walters insists he is open to embracing new ideas from Ikin — rated one of the sharpest minds in rugby league — and concedes both men “can be better” as the Broncos look to bury their dismal 2022 free fall by playing finals football next year.
Reynolds, who has worked with premiership coaches Wayne Bennett and Michael Maguire during his 10-year NRL career, is confident the Walters-Ikin alliance can break Brisbane’s 16-year title drought.
“As long as we stick solid and follow Kevvie, in his direction, we will end up in a good spot,” Reynolds said of Brisbane’s front-office ructions.
“There is a lot of talk in the media about this and that but I love ‘Kevvie’ and I love Benny.
“The club is heading in a good direction. Everything is good. We are led by Kevvie and he’s a great leader.
“You need a bit of luck along the way (to build a premiership-winning club).
“I was at Souths for 10 or 12 years and it’s not built overnight. It’s built on a long, hard journey.
“That’s what we’re trying to do here at the Broncos. We had that success many years ago here and it’s about trying to get back to that and sustaining it for a long time.”
Donaghy, who headhunted Ikin for the head of football role, regards the former Queensland Origin utility as a crucial plank in Brisbane’s premiership drive.
As part of the club’s internal review, completed last week, the Broncos will move to establish more clearly-defined roles and lines of communication between Ikin and Walters, who steered Brisbane to ninth this season with a 13-11 record.
Donaghy is in the process of finalising Brisbane’s hierarchal structure for 2023.
It is understood Ikin’s title as head-of-football will be amended, albeit slightly, following the departure of Steve Walters, who has tendered his resignation as football manager.
Walters’ exit will trigger a recalibration of Brisbane’s front office and it is believed Ikin will take on some football managerial tasks in a move designed to see him work more closely with the Broncos coach.
Broncos legend Gorden Tallis last week suggested Ikin should be a “lackey” for head coach Walters, but Donaghy saw first hand the power of the Craig Bellamy-Frank Ponissi alliance during his former premiership-winning tenure as Storm CEO.
Even if Ikin is handed a new job title, his value to Brisbane’s strategic plans will not change.
Donaghy has great respect for Ikin’s football IQ and wants him at the coalface, working harmoniously with Walters, to drive Brisbane’s quest for a seventh premiership and their first since 2006.
Johns, the Broncos Old Boys chairman, is one of Walters’ most strident supporters.
The Storm’s inaugural CEO in 1998, Johns says he has no issue with Ikin, but says Walters’ influence as head coach must not be diluted, arguing the club has transformed the Broncos from wooden spooners to finals contenders in two seasons.
“The criticism of Kevin Walters has been totally over the top,” Johns said.
“Ben Ikin has been given that (head of football) position and this is no disrespect to Ben at all, but his role has to only be one position in the football department.
“It’s not about giving Ben more of a say, it’s about providing support for the head coach and what Kevvie has done over the last 12 months is exactly the trajectory we need to go on.
“Now is not the time to say let’s give Ben Ikin more power, it’s time to say let’s build on what we did last year, do your jobs, and work together to win another premiership for the Broncos.”
Walters is off-contract next year and faces the sack if he fails to take Brisbane to the finals for a third consecutive season.
Former Broncos premiership centre Johns, part of the Storm front-office that won Melbourne’s first title in 1999, said the dismissal of Brisbane assistant Terry Matterson is evidence Walters will make the tough calls.
“The season has been a pass mark and Kevvie should be given more credit for what he has done,” Johns said.
“At the start of the year, if you said Kevin will coach the Broncos to 13 wins, will everyone be happy? I think everyone at the Broncos, including the board, would have been ecstatic.
“This was Kevvie’s first proper season to start building properly with a CEO and football manager and it’s been a magnificent year. They have set some solid building blocks and foundations for the Broncos to go forward again.
“The key is they can’t go backwards now, they have to learn from it, go forward to the finals and push for a premiership.
“All the premiership teams have a strong bond between CEO, coach and football manager.
“I don’t think it’s a matter of Ben Ikin being a big part or a small part, he just needs to be one part in the Broncos machine.
“I just hope they get together and work out what’s got to be done for the benefit of the Broncos.”
Johns scoffed at suggestions Brisbane’s Old Boys network meddles with the day-to-day running of the Broncos.
“The talk about us putting pressure on the club is ridiculous,” he said.
“There is no way the Old Boys should have a say in how the club is run.
“We are prehistoric, we last pulled on the Broncos jumper 30 years ago.
“We have opinions on the club because we are passionate and we love the Broncos, but the club has to be run by Kevvie.
“The head coach lives and dies by his decisions, not a football manager or anyone else, so Kevvie is entitled to run his football program how he sees fit.”
Former Broncos captain Justin Hodges believes Walters and Ikin have made critical calls in the composition of Brisbane’s NRL roster, including the signing of fullback whiz-kid Reece Walsh for next season.
“I have seen a heap of change, you can’t say the Broncos haven’t improved as a club under Kevvie,” he said.
“They did fall away at the back end (this season), but they have made massive strides and missing the finals this year is something they can learn from and it should motivate them to be better.
“Reece Walsh will make a difference. The Broncos have a good spine with Adam Reynolds and Ezra (Mam) and with Reece slotting in at fullback, they just need a consistent No. 9 and they will have a very good spine.
“There’s no reason the Broncos can’t play finals next season with Reece Walsh back at the club.”
For all the talk of off-field ructions, Reynolds believes the Broncos have more pressing issues to fix on the field.
Donaghy quizzed Brisbane players on the reasons for the club’s stunning late-season collapse and the skipper insists the Broncos will not carry psychological scar tissue into their finals revenge mission in 2023.
“The last month was pretty disappointing,” Reynolds said.
“Aside from that it was a pretty successful season for us. The club is on the rebuild and trying to get to greater heights.
“It takes time (to build for a premiership). We know that.
“In saying that, we put ourselves in a great position to do good things and we failed.
“It gives us a lot of hunger to move forward into next year. We need to be better, but there were positive signs and that’s the exciting thing about the club.
“The best teams are all good defensive teams. They don’t leak many points.
“That’s the area we need to be better at.
“The addition of Reece Walsh is going to help with the attack but that’s not the problem. It’s the defence at the moment.
“It’s a long pre-season and we need to have a good look at ourselves, see where we want to get to, where we want to be and who we want to be as a club.
“There’s no doubt we’ll be asking those questions in the first week (of pre-season), addressing them and getting them right.”
Selwyn Cobbo opens up on NRL burnout
Selwyn Cobbo has opened up about his burnout battle as the Broncos sensation wrestles with mental and physical fatigue amid a remarkable NRL season that keeps on rising.
A virtual unknown just 18 months ago, Cobbo’s head-spinning year will hit another special summit on Sunday when he wears green-and-gold in Australia’s Prime Minister’s XIII clash against Papua New Guinea at Suncorp Stadium
This time last year, Cobbo was a baby-faced teenager starring for Wynnum Manly in a Queensland Cup grand final against Norths Devils.
Fast forward 12 months and Cobbo has become one of the hottest backline properties in the code, scoring 15 tries in 18 games for the Broncos this season on his way to a shock Queensland Origin debut and, now, a green-and-gold baptism.
But the meteoric rise has come at a personal toll. Cobbo suffered a sickening concussion in the Origin decider in July and last month, he withdrew from Brisbane’s round 24 clash against the Eels after informing coach Kevin Walters he was simply burnt out.
The following week, Cobbo turned up late to Brisbane’s captain’s run for their final-round clash against the Dragons, earning a rebuke from Walters for sleeping in on the eve of the Broncos’ biggest game of the season.
Cobbo joined Prime Minister’s camp after returning to hometown Cherbourg for some time out with his family and the 20-year-old admits his all-action 2022 campaign has been as brutal as it is brilliant.
“It’s been pretty challenging for me,” said Cobbo, speaking for the first time about his burnout struggles.
“I have never had a year like this before and it will only get harder. I am still coping with it now and dealing with it.
“I felt it was a long year for me and I told ‘Kevvie’ (Walters) I needed a rest to finish the year off strongly.
“I felt some fatigue at the end of the year and I definitely needed a break.
“I have just come back from Cherbourg, I have been there for a week but it’s probably not enough.
“Going back to Cherbourg to see my family and friends up here, it’s good for me in my mental space being around the family.
“I probably need the break for what happened this year, I played a lot of football this year.
“I think I need a (longer) break, but I love footy and I will do what I have to do.”
Such is his regard for the national team, Cobbo was never going to knock back the prestige attached to donning an Australian jumper for the PM’s XIII hitout with the Kumuls on familiar terrain at Suncorp.
While it is not recognised as a fully-fledged Test match, Cobbo will face PNG in the green-and-gold No. 3 – the very jumper his Indigenous mentor, Steve Renouf, wore when ‘The Pearl’ scored Australia’s match-winning try in the 1992 World Cup final against Great Britain.
“It’s another one on the bucket list ticked off,” Cobbo said of his Australian call-up.
“Everything has gone good for me this year with Origin and the Broncos and now playing for the Australian team … it’s been a pretty good year.
“I wouldn’t have imagined I would be here, there are a lot of other guys who deserved a spot, but I’m grateful to be in the team and I can’t wait for this week.”
Cobbo said he was blown away to follow in the footsteps of Broncos legend Renouf, who hails from Murgon near Cherbourg.
“I wasn’t around at the time when Steve was playing, but back where I come from, you look at Steve and it makes me think anyone can do it,” he said.
“I am wearing the No. 3 jumper as well and I am walking in the same trail as Steve. It feels pretty good.
“Pearl has been very helpful for me. Even before I made it to the NRL, I have been doing some stuff with him through the Deadly Choices program and he has been very helpful for me in my journey.”
A blinder against PNG will put Cobbo in genuine contention for a World Cup spot. That would add another month to his gruelling first full season of NRL, but the Maroons young gun says no amount of fatigue would stop him playing for his country at a World Cup.
“If I get named in the squad, I would be happy to go on the camp,” Cobbo said.
“Mal (Meninga, Australia coach) hasn’t spoken to me yet, but I would love to experience a tour like that.”
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