Sport Confidential: Kevin Walters dodges Broncos ball, Michael Maguire’s tough off-season love
Kevin Walters has declined an invitation to attend the Brisbane Broncos ball, while new coach Michael Maguire has drawn a line in the sand regarding off-season fitness at the club. That and more in Sport Confidential.
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Former Brisbane coach Kevin Walters will be a no-show for Thursday night’s annual Broncos ball.
This masthead understands Walters has informed club event organisers he will not be attending Brisbane’s official awards night _ two weeks after parting ways with the Broncos.
The parties insist there is no bad blood, and Walters has been retained on a three-year deal as a Broncos ambassador, but the club legend made the call not to suit up for Brisbane’s gala black-tie function.
Just 12 months ago, Walters was front and centre at the Broncos ball, presenting a number of awards and making a heartfelt speech after he steered Brisbane to the 2023 grand final.
But Walters will be a notable absentee at the 2024 awards after he was shown the door in favour of new coach Michael Maguire, who will launch Brisbane’s 2025 pre-season next month.
Despite Walters’ absence, the Broncos will honour one of their favourite sons, who is just one of two Brisbane players in history to have featured in five of the club’s six premierships.
It’s understood Broncos CEO Dave Donaghy will deliver a tribute to Walters, who revived Brisbane as a premiership force after the club’s wooden-spoon finish under Anthony Seibold in 2020.
Walters will remain busy next season. ‘Kevvie’ is set to return to Fox Sports as an NRL commentator and expert analyst.
MAGUIRE PUTS BRONCOS ON NOTICE
Memo: Broncos players. Strap yourselves in.
Michael Maguire has put an immediate stamp on the Broncos.
The new Brisbane coach has abolished a rewards system that would have seen Broncos players given extra time off for hitting fitness benchmarks.
It’s understood Brisbane’s full-time squad, including Reece Walsh, Adam Reynolds, Selwyn Cobbo, Pat Carrigan, Kotoni Staggs and Payne Haas, stood to receive another week of annual leave if they reported for pre-season in good shape.
But Maguire has no interest in cheap holidays. The premiership mentor believes reporting for pre-season not overweight should be a basic requirement for a professional NRL player.
A noted disciplinarian, Maguire will quickly draw a line in the sand at Red Hill. Broncos players will quickly know what ‘Madge’ expects – and those that don’t buy-in will not last long in Maguire’s quest to break a 19-year title drought.
Maguire was famed for his work ethic at South Sydney and was often the last to leave the premises. Unprofessional slackers will not be tolerated at the Broncos in 2025.
HIP, HIP HOORAY FOR MOORE
You can’t keep a good Queenslander down for long.
The legendary Billy Moore is on the mend after undergoing a second bout of hip replacement surgery – but the Queensland Origin great insists the operation will not stop him pounding the pavement.
An avid runner, Moore wants to take part in two more marathons next year – the famous Berlin and Chicago courses – before hanging up the running shoes.
“I was supposed to be in Berlin last week running the marathon, now I’m in hospital in Brisbane,” Moore said.
“This is my second hip operation. I had my first one three years ago. I’ll be up hobbling around in the coming days.
“It took me two years to recover from my first hip surgery, but hopefully this recovery will be about six to eight months.
“I dislocated my left hip during my playing days when I got wishboned in a game.
“My hip was never the same and it’s affected my right side as well.”
The man who famously coined the “Queenslander” phrase during his Origin career says he will lead a healthy life post-surgery.
“I’m not finished yet,” he said. “I will do two marathons next year then become one of the great walkers of the world shouting Queenslander!”
JOHNS NOT FEELING (SKY) BLUE
Matty Johns has ruled out applying for the NSW Origin post despite a fresh push for him to coach the Blues.
The NSW Rugby League is on the hunt for a successor to Michael Maguire, who stood down as Blues coach after just one series in charge following his appointment at the Broncos.
Experienced options are thin on the ground for the Blues, prompting Johns’ name to be thrown up given his standing as one of the code’s sharpest media analysts on Fox Sports.
But the former NSW and Test pivot says he hasn’t caught the coaching bug.
“No, I won’t be going for the (NSW) job,” he said.
“You have to be really careful of the thing that sits inside all of us that can send us on a path that we shouldn’t be on and that’s ego.
“People say, ‘Matty, you should coach Origin’.
“It flatters you and there’s a part of you that thinks, ‘Yes I can do it’.
“But I have to ask myself if I would be doing it for the right reasons.
“My ego is telling me to apply for the NSW job, but then I say, ‘Hang on, I have a good life’, it’s low stress by comparison and you would be going into an Origin job potentially with no experience as a coach.
“I’m not coach fit.
“Other people dedicate their lives to coaching. I haven’t. I’ve chosen media.
“Wayne (Bennett) spoke to me a few years ago when I was first asked me about coaching NSW and he said if you want to coach, get yourself a side right now at a lower level and learn by making mistakes without the pressure.
“He said if you haven’t stuffed up at that lower level, then in the NRL, you will find yourself in the coaching box and a million things will go through your head.”
BRONCOS QUASH IKIN RETURN RUMOURS
Brisbane chiefs have addressed speculation former football boss Ben Ikin could make a shock return to the Broncos.
Rumours sweeping leagues circles over the past week have suggested the Broncos are lining up Ikin to return to Red Hill.
The speculation gathered steam at last Sunday’s NRL grand final, when Ikin was a surprise no-show for the State Championships final, despite being the CEO of the Queensland Rugby League.
Retiring Queensland chairman Bruce Hatcher was the QRL’s representative on stage for the State Championships trophy presentation, but there was no sign of Ikin, who has taken annual leave.
Ikin taking time off during the biggest week of the NRL calendar sent the rumour mill into overdrive at a time when the winds of change are sweeping through the Broncos.
Broncos mentor Kevin Walters was sacked a fortnight ago and his departure was viewed as a possible trigger for the return of Ikin, who quit Brisbane last year following “creative tensions” with the coach.
Ikin took charge of the QRL, but there has been a push for the 47-year-old, lauded as one of the sharpest minds in the code, to lead a Broncos revival, possibly as CEO Dave Donaghy’s successor.
Donaghy has been linked with the Dragons CEO post, but it’s understood the former Storm boss, entering his fifth season at Red Hill, is happy at Brisbane and has no plans to walk away.
Despite Brisbane’s on-field woes this year, Donaghy steered the Broncos to a record $80 million in revenue, a 16 per cent increase in sponsorship and a half-year before-tax profit of $6.3.
Broncos chairman Karl Morris dismissed suggestions of an Ikin comeback, lauding the performance of Donaghy, who parted ways with Walters a fortnight ago following a club-wide review.
“We are very happy with Dave,” Morris said.
“We have never had more members and sponsorship, but it’s also about winning on the field and that’s our goal every year.”
Ikin is kicking goals as the QRL’s head honcho. He recently brokered a monster four-year, $100 million funding contract with the NRL – the biggest deal in QRL history.
Ikin is also part of an NRL task force looking into the code’s structures and pathways, including plans to set up an under-21s national youth competition for 2026.
There is a view the Broncos have missed Ikin’s strength of leadership in the front office since leaving Brisbane in May 2023.
“The short answer is I came in expecting to do a certain number of things, some of those things dropped off, and I picked up some other projects,” Ikin said at the time of his exit.
“The end result is Kevvie, Dave (Donaghy) and I leave on good terms ... the Broncos are in pretty good shape.”
PANTHERS TURN UP HEAT ON BRONCOS
It’s official. The Broncos are still the most valuable brand in the NRL, but the Panthers are threatening their top-dog status in the wake of their remarkable premiership four-peat.
A study by Brand Finance has revealed the Broncos are the NRL’s premier brand, valued at $124 million, with only Penrith getting close, finishing second with an estimated worth of $108 million.
The world’s leading brand valuation consultancy, Brand Finance measures a number of factors, including long-term success on and off the field, football heritage and sponsorship and corporate support.
Despite finishing 12th this season, the Broncos have more than 53,000 members and are surging towards 60,000, with the club turning over $75 million last season as the richest club in the league.
“The Broncos’ brand equity drives their commercial success,” said Brand Finance Australia boss Mark Crowe. “Since its inception in 1988, the club has remained the flagship for Queensland rugby league, bolstered by its monopoly on Brisbane’s market until the Dolphins’ arrival last year.”
Interestingly, the birth of the Dolphins has not eroded Brisbane’s brand strength. The study valued the Dolphins at $49 million in just their second season, with their explosive rivalry with the Broncos helping both brands grow.
“The Dolphins have made a strong entrance into the league,” Crowe said. “Notably, their arrival has not diminished the Broncos’ value, indicating a growing market for NRL in Queensland.”
Collingwood is the most valuable AFL club brand at $145 million, well ahead of Carlton at $115 million and Richmond at $101 million.
The Brisbane Lions finished 11th among AFL brands but their worth is sure to surge following their recent premiership win a fortnight ago.
X-FACTOR PACKS A PUNCH
Hulking forward Xavier Willison is leaving no stone unturned in his quest to win a bumper contract upgrade at the Broncos next season.
Willison is packing a punch in the off-season – literally – with the 114kg man mountain keeping fit with boxing sessions to hit the ground running for Brisbane’s 2025 pre-season.
It’s an attitude that will go down well with new Broncos coach Michael Maguire, who is renowned for his hard work ethic.
Willison was gutted by Brisbane’s 12th-placed free fall this season, a disappointment compounded by his omission from New Zealand’s Pacific Championships squad.
The 22-year-old was hoping to win a maiden Kiwis jumper, but will still feature in the upcoming Pacific Championships after being chosen by Cook Islands, for whom he debuted in 2022.
Willison is off-contract next year and is seeking a major pay rise at the Broncos after a promising 2024 individual campaign that saw him play 19 games.
The athletic prop has been put through punishing boxing sessions with Gold Coast-based trainer Fidel Tukel at his Burleigh gym to ensure Willison is fit and firing for the new season.
WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Titans flyer Alofiana Khan-Pereira famously didn’t know the name of Warriors star Dallin Watene-Zelezniak.
Now he has copped a bit of his own medicine.
Khan-Pereira had media in stitches last year when he referred to Watene-Zelezniak as “Denzel” before admitting he wasn’t sure what the Dally M winger of the year’s name was.
Upon arriving in Prime Minister’s XIII camp on the Gold Coast this week, Khan-Pereira copped similar treatment from coach Brad Fittler.
“I thought his name was Efi. I was calling him Efi,” Fittler admitted.
“He has got a spark.
“He is a character, I like him.”
‘AKP’ is hoping to produce a big performance in Port Moresby on Sunday to give Fittler something to remember.
FIFITA READY FOR FIGHT
Enigmatic Titans star David Fifita is preparing to hit the ground running as he fights for his future on the Gold Coast under Des Hasler.
Fifita is on the comeback trail from ankle surgery he underwent in the final week of the regular season.
The $1 million-a-year forward’s form fell off a cliff after he was overlooked for Queensland Origin selection by Maroons coach Billy Slater in all three games of the 2024 series.
Fifita was also battling an ankle problem, but is on track to get a full pre-season under his belt with the Titans to hit the paddock next month.
Hasler reportedly put the blowtorch on Fifita due to his poor finish to the season after the Titans begged him to backflip on a move to the Sydney Roosters.
There have been suggestions the Titans regret convincing Fifita to renege on the Roosters given the lacklustre performances he produced in the back end of the season as Gold Coast claimed a third straight bottom four finish.
Fellow Titans backrower Beau Fermor said he was expecting Fifita to have a big pre-season.
“I saw him at the club the other day and he looks really fit for a big guy,” he said.
“He hasn’t been able to walk for four or five weeks but he looks good. He’s looking after himself.
“Hopefully he can get back running soon and have a really big pre-season after what was an interrupted one last year (due to a pec injury).
“He probably wasn’t playing his best footy and I know Dave was upset about that. That’s not the type of player he is.
“I’m sure he’ll be looking forward to having a big pre-season into a big year next year.”
Fifita’s partner Shaylee Bent this week inked a three-year contract extension with the Titans’ NRLW team, also keeping her at the Gold Coast until at least 2027.
Bent said Fifita was back on his feet following a frustrating month post-surgery.
“He has started walking now,” she said.
“He is off the crutches which is good. He can finally do some things. He’s not at home sitting inside all day.
“He is coming along nicely.”
BRONCO THANKS KEVVIE
Broncos forward Kobe Hetherington has thanked former coach Kevin Walters for giving him a crack at the NRL as he prepares to make his green and gold debut.
Hetherington is the only Brisbane player selected for Sunday’s Prime Minister’s XIII clash against PNG in Port Moresby.
While it’s not the Test Kangaroos team, Hetherington is over the moon to be featuring for an Australian side.
He was with his father, former Maroons hitman Jason Hetherington, when he got the call and said he was grateful for Walters giving him a shot at the NRL in 2021.
“I do feel for him (losing his job). He was the one that gave me my debut so I’ll always have a soft spot for Kev,” Hetherington said.
“He has helped me so much throughout my career.
“I was back home sitting with (dad) when I got the call. I told him and he was so proud of me.
“I’ve still got goose bumps now. It’s my first time wearing the green and gold.
“I can’t wait to get out there and represent my country.”
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