NRL 2020: Broncos chairman Karl Morris says club won’t chase Craig Bellamy and Cameron Smith
Storm duo Craig Bellamy and Cameron Smith would be huge additions to help the Broncos become a powerhouse again but will they chase them? Chairman Karl Morris discusses that, the shocking performances and more in an exclusive interview.
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Broncos chairman Karl Morris has ruled out poaching Storm super duo Craig Bellamy and Cameron Smith and revealed Brisbane’s new coach will get more support under plans to break the club’s 14-year title drought.
In his most extensive interview on the Broncos crisis, stockbroking millionaire Morris outlined Brisbane‘s blueprint for reform as the club looks to pick up the pieces following the departure of coach Anthony Seibold.
With three rounds to play, the Broncos are in danger of collecting their first-ever wooden spoon, an embarrassing scenario for the NRL‘s richest club and the one-time powerhouse of Australian sport.
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But Morris has assured Broncos stakeholders he is determined to stop the rot, with the installation of a new coach and CEO to trigger one of the biggest shake-ups of Brisbane‘s front-office in their 32-year history.
“The board is working hard to fix this,” he said.
“We need to make sure we get the right people in the right spots.”
THE COACH
The battle for the Broncos job is regarded as a two-horse race between Kevin Walters and Paul Green. Broncos bosses kicked off the coach-hiring process on Friday and will cast the net across the NRL to explore other viable candidates.
But Morris says finding Seibold‘s successor is only one plank in Brisbane’s restoration plan.
There was a feeling Seibold failed because he lacked the intel of experienced assistants. Morris says the new coach will have a squadron of qualified allies.
When Green won a premiership at the Cowboys in 2015, ironically beating the Broncos, he had an outstanding trio of assistants in David Furner, John Cartwright and Jason Demetriou.
“We‘re not just picking a coach - we’ll be looking at a coaching team,” Morris said.
“We are giving great thought to the coaching structure in a holistic sense.
“We will do a total review of who is on the market and what‘s in the best interests of the Broncos going forward. That process started on Friday.
“This time around, there will be a lot more thought to the football-operations team. We are taking a much wider view going forward.
“Whoever is picked, we will give them every support to ensure they don‘t fail.”
CRAIG BELLAMY
One proposal floated is that will Brisbane will consider an interim coach for 12 months.
That would enable the Broncos to make a big-money play for Storm super coach Bellamy when he comes off-contract at the end of next year.
The Broncos have had three failed attempts at signing Bellamy, most recently two years ago when he inked a new deal at Melbourne, and Morris won‘t be attempting a fourth poaching bid.
“The reality is Craig Bellamy is contracted for 2021,” Morris said.
“Matt Tripp, the Storm chairman, has been pretty clear on the fact he won‘t lose Craig and wants him to finish up in Melbourne.
“It will be too hard to make it work. It would be too difficult to have an interim coach situation.
“We want more certainty than that.”
CAMERON SMITH
Smith is off-contract and has been linked with a career swansong at Red Hill next year, but Morris says the Storm champion will never wear Broncos colours.
“A lot has been speculated around Cameron Smith and the Broncos but I haven‘t spoken to him and to my knowledge, no-one at the Broncos has,” he said.
“I keep hearing he wants to be a one-club person and finish his career at Melbourne so that‘s where it stands.
“We have no intention of signing Cam Smith.”
SAVING TEVITA
The Broncos initially planned to sack Tevita Pangai Jr for a string of alleged contract breaches but Morris explained why the board had a change of heart.
“We gave Tevita a second chance because we saw a genuine remorse in him,” he said.
“Tevita hasn‘t coped well with COVID, he struggled mentally with the closure of his church and the people he normally associated with in his circle of influence had diminished.
“From a board‘s point of view, we had a duty of care to Tevita and when we weighed up his COVID breaches against how much he wanted to stay at the Broncos, we believed he deserved another chance.
“To Tevita‘s credit, he offered up a number of proposed punishments. He showed what he was prepared to do to come back and perform for the club.
“When Tevita is playing well, he is as talented as anyone. He is only 24, so we want him running with us rather than against us.
“We are serious about Tevita having a job (during his time away from the NRL). We are still deciding on exactly what that job entails and I‘ll be working with him to ensure he returns in good shape for pre-season.”
SEIBOLD SINKS
Morris defended suggestions the club failed to give Seibold more coaching support, although he said the days of handing out massive five-year contracts are over.
“Anthony is 45 years of age, he had been in coaching for 15 years when he arrived here,” he said.
“Things came unstuck during COVID when we were restricted to what we had in the bubble. A guy like Corey Parker (forwards coach) wasn‘t allowed in the bubble.
“I don‘t think we have to enter into such a long-term contract again. It was a unique circumstance and something we have learned from.”
THE FUTURE
Morris accepts the savage criticism from club legends but is adamant the Broncos can hit back as a finals force next season.
“We take extremely seriously the views of Broncos fans, sponsors and former players,” he said.
“There are more than 200 former players and you hear from a few so-called disgruntled Broncos legends. But we don‘t hear from hundreds of old boys. While those guys aren’t happy with the results, they are still very supportive of the club.
“We want the fans and the sponsors to be happy and we want to be successful.
“We showed against Penrith on Thursday night that we have the makings of a squad that can compete with the top teams.
“There is no magic wand to our current situation, but we‘re looking at incremental changes to get the Broncos back to where they should be.”