State of Origin: Kevin Walters fighting to save his reputation

Defeat has meant tomorrow night’s Origin finale is about saving reputations rather than dynasties.

Queensland coach Kevin Walters with his players on the Gold Coast. Picture: AAP

Kevin Walters is entering foreign territory on home soil. For most of his adult life, Walters has been a serial winner, the sort of bloke who has become a magnet for success.

Yet at Suncorp Stadium tomorrow night — scene of so many of his finest moments — Walters must find a way for both he and Queensland to avoid an unmitigated disaster.

This has been a chastening series for the Maroons and their coach. Walters has had his mood, tactics and selections questioned. He has been shorn of captains and superstars. Injury and retirement have eroded his squad and made it a series of transition rather than triumph.

Walters has had to digest so much with Queensland alone. Yet in the background, he has had to deal with the pursuit of Craig Bellamy by the Broncos, a club he was seemingly ordained to coach.

Even now, Bellamy having opted to stay in Melbourne, Walters is confronted by rumours of the club’s purported interest in Wests Tigers coach Ivan Cleary.

While those rumours appear spurious — Broncos insiders have laughed off the link — they must gall Walters. After a stellar start to the year, the Tigers have lost four in a row and five of their past six games. They are slipping out of finals contention.

Yet the rumour mill sees fit to suggest Cleary may be an option for the Broncos at Walters’ expense. Just another slap in the face, albeit an erroneous one, for a man who has made no secret of his desire to take over from Bennett, even returning to the club this year as an assistant only to resign leading into Origin.

His love of the club appears unrequited, the Broncos’ quest to find a successor to Bennett seemingly taking them in another direction.

Little wonder a man renowned for his laconic nature has appeared surly at times, his mood when he announced his team for Origin II prompting an inquisition.

Walters was serious. Too serious for some. He can’t win. Some would have you believe he is too laid-back to be an NRL coach. Yet even when he puts the laughter aside, the critics circle.

That Queensland came so close to victory in the game at ANZ Stadium suggests Walters is coaching as well as ever. The challenge this year has been infinitely greater than in the previous two and with a touch of luck and discipline, the series could still be on the line.

Had Queensland avoided individual errors in the last 15 minutes in Sydney we could have arrived at Suncorp Stadium with a completely different narrative.

As it is, defeat has meant tomorrow night’s game is about saving reputations rather than dynasties.

The expectation was that Walters would lead a Queensland side through a rolling period of generational change but it was thrust upon him this year, the sudden and shock retirement of Cameron Smith only weeks before Origin I — and so soon after Cooper Cronk and Johnathan Thurston vacated the interstate stage — leaving a hole the Maroons have been unable to fill.

The two most influential players still available for selection have been struck down by injury — he lost Billy Slater leading into Origin I and Greg Inglis in the lead-up to Origin III.

Contrast that with NSW coach Brad Fittler, who has had a flawless series. Fittler has been lauded for his willingness to think outside the square and his decision to pick a side based on form and personality, rather than reputation.

Arguably his greatest allies have been the football Gods. Where Queensland have watched a litany of their biggest names become the victims of Father Time and ill fortune, Fittler has had the smoothest of passages. He made one change to his side for game two and one change to it again for game three.

He has had the luxury of consistency in the selection room. Walters has had no choice. His playing stocks have been hammered and his personal stocks have been affected as a result.

There was a view in some quarters that the true indication of Walters’ coaching ability would become apparent after the retirement of Queensland’s biggest names.

That day has now arrived and the Maroons have been found wanting. They have one more chance to save some shred of their reputations tomorrow night. A clean sweep would leave a bad taste that would linger for 12 months. Walters has as much at stake as anyone.