By Phil Lutton
New Brisbane Broncos chief executive Dave Donaghy has made his first key appointment since taking over at Red Hill, with Ben Ikin to take charge of the ailing club’s football department.
After a turbulent week at the club where long-time recruitment chief Peter Nolan and football operations manager Andrew Croll were let go, Ikin steps in to take over a football department that has been heavily criticised for its recruiting practices and ability to retain players.
Ikin was a 55-game player for the Broncos and suited up for the Maroons on 17 occasions. He’s since gone on to become one of the sharpest pundits of the game and is known as a deep and strategic thinker. Now he gets the chance to put it all into practice.
That opportunity could have arrived earlier, with Ikin applying for the CEO job at Red Hill before former Storm chief Donaghy was given the green light to take over from the outgoing Paul White.
But the workload will be ample when he arrives, with the Broncos staring down a second wooden spoon, reports of player unrest and a litany of recruiting bungles that have seen some of the best talents of the next NRL generation all campaigning at rival clubs.
The 46-0 defeat at the hands of the Rabbitohs last week appeared to be a tipping point for Donaghy to make some changes, with Walters saying the entire football program needed to be under review, himself included.
Former Brisbane and Maroons player Ben Ikin will become the Broncos’ head of football.Credit: Getty
Tevita Pangai Jnr and Matt Lodge are both occupying significant portions of the salary cap but have been told they are free to leave before their contracts expire in coming seasons.
Getting the club’s roster in a better shape will be priority number one for Ikin, who fired some broadsides last season as the Broncos struggled along under the stewardship of sacked coach Anthony Seibold.
“The list management at the Brisbane Broncos has been disgusting,” Ikin said at the time. “Disgusting, there’s no way around it. The 30-man squad the Broncos have assembled is ineffective. It’s out of balance.
“There’s a general manager of football up there in Peter Nolan who has worked together with Wayne Bennett, Paul White supposedly did the Darius Boyd deal, Anthony Seibold has made some decisions.
“So I would say you less hang this on one person ... the system is broken ... and (it’s) out of balance that they’ve arrived at this point.”