Bronco greats attack officials
BRISBANE legends have launched an extraordinary attack on Brisbane hierarchy over the snubbing of Kevin Walters and say “heads should roll” if the club fails to win another premiership next season.
The Broncos are under siege from their greatest servants with NRL hall- of- famer Gorden Tallis and former hooker Kerrod Walters yesterday lashing the club over Brisbane’s succession plan for Wayne Bennett.
South Sydney coach Anthony Seibold will be unveiled as Bennett’s successor within days, in the process scuppering Walters’s dream of taking charge of his beloved Broncos.
A shattered Walters has privately given up hope of coaching the Broncos and former skipper Tallis is mystified by the rejection of the 241- game Brisbane icon.
“Kevvie coaching the Broncos was a logical fit. I just don’t get the decision when he’s right there in front of them,” Tallis said.
“To me, it didn’t come down to coaching records, it must have come down to a personality clash.
“I just don’t know what Kevin Walters has to do. He’s coached Origin, won two series in the biggest pressurecooker arena in the game, he’s made tough decisions like standing down players … there’s no one that has won more for their club than Kevin Walters.
“The last time Kevin Walters was at the club full- time ( as an assistant coach in 2015) was the last time the Broncos made a grand final.
“It cannot come down to his standing in the game. He’s a winner. For me, it would have been the perfect fit.”
Tallis believes Walters would have been the perfect figurehead to reunite a Broncos club he claims is suffering from a growing divide.
“The bridge with the Broncos of old and Broncos of new, the gap is getting wider,” Tallis said.
“It’s sad but the club I played with for so long, it doesn’t have the vibe of the great Bronco sides that I’ve played with and the club that it once was.”
Broncos boss Paul White declined to comment.
Brisbane put the four prospective coaching candidates – Seibold, Walters, Michael Maguire and Jason Demetriou – through a multifaceted process.
The quartet were asked to undergo psychometric testing before a formal interview with a committee comprising White, chairman Karl Morris and board member Darren Lockyer. Walters’s brother Kerrod says Brisbane’s management, headed by chief executive White, should come under the microscope if Seibold cannot break the club’s 13year premiership drought.