Wally Lewis says Broncos players divided over payments
The inaugural captain of the Broncos said he had never before seen the level of nastiness and jealousy that he says exists within the club.
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Queensland legend Wally Lewis has made the sensational claim there is tension among Broncos players over their salaries — including angst over Anthony Milford’s club record $1 million deal.
NRL Immortal Lewis, the Broncos foundation captain better known as ‘The King’, believes Brisbane stars are at odds over the club’s pay structures with the likes of Milford and Jack Bird not delivering bang for their buck.
Milford is the highest-paid player in Brisbane’s history with a $1 million-a-season deal, while Bird is on $975,000 this year and has played just 17 games in three seasons due to a series of injuries including two knee reconstructions.
Speaking on Sydney radio in the lead up to the Broncos-Warriors clash at Gosford, Lewis said he had never before seen the level of nastiness and jealousy that he says exists within the club.
“The spirit between the players suggesting that a number of them aren’t real happy with the payments being given to some of the players and they’re not really performing all that well,” Lewis told radio 2GB.
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“Anthony Milford’s copped an absolute hammering from the general public and the media alike.
“He’s a million-dollar man and they’re just saying he’s not getting too much out of it.
“I‘ve got to say, I’ve never seen anything like this in all my time as a football lover in Brisbane.
“This is nasty, it’s jealousy, it’s an uncomfortable feeling for the players and quite unfairly we have had some players blamed a little bit more than others with the suggestion that it’s the men that get the most money that should be producing the best.
“Well, that‘s right in a certain way. But when you’re out there, there’s 13 players on the field to produce their best.
“The one issue that they can’t deny is there just seems to be a pretty bad mood in the club.
“That’s a real indication that something needs to be changed.”
Lewis said the fact that former coach Wayne Bennett has gone public with his view on the demise of the club under the current management and coach Anthony Seibold is another indication that one of the most famous franchises in Australian sport it on its knees.
“He is at another club now and yeah, he can be nasty,‘’ Lewis said.
“But when it reaches that level, that Bennett is putting the boot in, I think you could probably agree that its got to an all-time low — something that many league fans would never be experienced.‘’
Asked what he would do to fix things, Lewis said: “Where do you start?
“A meeting with the players just to nut out exactly what the issue is.”
The Broncos started the season with two straight wins but have suffered five consecutive losses since the NRL season resumed following the COVID-19 shutdown.
Milford and Bird are Brisbane’s two highest-earning players, eating up almost $2 million of the salary cap this year, and the pair recently activated 12-month extensions in their favour for the 2021 season.
The Broncos are battling salary-cap pressures at a time when they are trying to retain star back-rower David Fifita, who is off-contract at season’s end and weighing up a $5 million deal from the Titans.
Originally published as Wally Lewis says Broncos players divided over payments