‘Greatest thrill of my life’: Kevin Walters speaks after shock Broncos sacking

The Brisbane Broncos have stunned the NRL, sacking coach Kevin Walters 12 months after taking the club to the Grand Final.

Coach Kevin Walters, Brisbane Broncos training, Red Hill. Picture: Liam Kidston

The Brisbane Broncos have terminated head coach Kevin Walters’ contract effective immediately after the club’s end of season review.

The Broncos had a shocking end to the season, missing the finals in the season after making it all the way to the grand final.

The question was how long was Walters going to survive — and now the NRL has its answer.

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The Courier Mail broke the stunning news in after the club went through an extensive club-wide review at the end of a horror season.

Broncos chairman Karl Morris confirmed the decision to News Corp.

“We feel deeply for Kev,” he said. “He will always be a respected guy and a legend of the Broncos and he will always be treated that way.

“Of course I am shocked. This is a huge job and a pressure job at the Broncos. We have great appreciation for Kevvie’s efforts and wish him well.”

The players were reportedly told of Walters’ exit on Thursday evening.

Incredibly, the 56-year-old Walters was given a one-year extension in March, which should have taken him up to the end of the 2026 season.

Walters spoke about his exit in a statement on the Broncos website.

“Aside from playing here, it’s been the greatest thrill and honour of my life to have coached the Broncos,” Walters said.

“Coaching in the NRL takes a toll, not just on the coach but also their family – it’s time for me to step away and spend some quality time with my loved ones, who have supported me all the way over the last four years.

“I’m grateful to the club for providing me with the opportunity to be head coach and we have come a long way from the wooden spoon to last year’s run to the Grand Final.

“I wish the team and the club all the best.”

Adam Reynolds and Kevin Walters. NRL Imagery

The news stunned the NRL world.

Fox Sports’ Dane Lillingstone posted: “Absolutely ruthless and brutal decision by the Broncos on Kevin Walters but can’t argue with results. Premiership winning former club captain or not… 1 finals series in 4 years.”

Former radio and TV presenter Ian Maurice commented: “Wow … didn’t expect this. The Brisbane Broncos have sacked coach Kevin Walters effective immediately. The search for a replacement has already begun.”

2GB’s Mark Levy said: “Kevin Walters Sacked – WOW!!! Rugby League – who’d want to be a coach?”

The Broncos Rebuild X account wrote: “I’m honestly shocked, no way I thought they’d pull the trigger on this.”

Walters’ tenure at the Broncos has been difficult, having missed the finals three times in four seasons.

However, Walters took over the reigns of the club after the first wooden spoon season in the Broncos’ history.

Just three years later, the Broncos played in its first Grand Final since 2015 and were likely 20 minutes from hoisting the trophy — until Nathan Cleary got involved.

The heartbreaking 26-24 loss had many pundits tipping the Broncos to go one better in 2024.

At round 11, the Broncos were sitting pretty at fifth on the ladder with a 7-4 record.

But from there it was a shocking fall from grace as the side won just three of 13 matches to finish 12th on the NRL ladder.

Who’d want to be an NRL coach? Picture: Liam Kidston

After the 30-24 round 25 win over the Parramatta Eels, despite results needing to go their way to make the playoffs, Walters insisted: “We will make the finals”.

“There is no ‘if’,” he said at the time. “We will make the finals but we have got to play well next week against Redcliffe.”

The Broncos then lost 40-6 against the Dolphins in round 26 and 50-12 in round 27 against Melbourne.

After the round 27 belting, Walters maintained he was the right person to take the club forward.

“It’s just been a tough year, a disappointing year for everyone involved in the club,” Walters said when asked to sum up his emotions.

“Yeah, I just need some time now to fix the place up.”

Long term injuries played their part in the season as the Broncos were without the likes of Reece Walsh (played 14 matches in 2024), Payne Haas (14 matches) and Adam Reynolds (13 games) for long periods of the season.

However, even that hasn’t been able to save Walters’ job.

The Walters era in Brisbane is over. Picture: Nigel Hallett

Broncos CEO Dave Donaghy paid tribute to Walters, who at 99 games coached, is the third longest-serving coach in the club’s history, behind only Wayne Bennett (671 games) and Anthony Griffin (101 games).

He’s also only the second coach of the Broncos behind Bennett to take the club to the grand final.

“We owe a debt of gratitude to Kevin, for the enormous role he’s played as head coach over the past four years,” Donaghy said.

“Kevin put his heart and soul into the club during his time as coach. He is one of the most passionate people you will ever meet when it comes to the Broncos and that helped lift us out of a really difficult time.

“While we will miss Kev and his infectious personality daily, we certainly don’t want one of the Broncos favourite sons not to stay involved with our great club.”

Earlier this month, The Daily Telegraph’s David Riccio called on the Broncos to make a bold decision on Walters or risk 2025 being “a complete write off” if sticking with the club legend didn’t pay off.

Walters played 241 games for the Broncos, winning five of his six premierships in Brisbane.

The other premiership was for Canberra in 1989, the club where he started his career and played 50 games between 1987 and 1989.