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After much deliberation, Kevin Walters has been named Queensland State of Origin coach, replacing Mal Meninga.
With Paul Green knocking back the role and Wayne Bennett concentrating on the Broncos, Walters was the logical choice.
Though Walters is yet to coach an NRL club, he has worked with Melbourne and Queensland and coached the Catalans Dragons in 2009-10.
With the NRL becoming more commercial, the characters are dying. Kevvy Walters is one of the larrikins of rugby league and is loved for it.
Kevin played with his brothers Kerrod and Steve in Ipswich before joining the Canberra Raiders for 50 games from 1987 to 1989, coming off the bench in Canberra’s breakthrough 1989 grand final win. Walters joins a growing list of former Raiders from the Green Machine era (1987 to 1996) to coach at Origin level (Tim Sheens, Craig Bellamy, Meninga, Ricky Stuart and current NSW coach Laurie Daley).
While the Raiders gave him the start, Brisbane was his true home, playing 237 games in 10 years for the Broncos, including five premierships (1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2000) and captain in 1999 and 2000.
During that time Kevin played 20 Origins for Queensland (and three Super League matches for Queensland) and 11 Tests for Australia.
For all his on-field deeds, it was Kevin’s off-field bravery that endeared him to the rugby league community.
In 1998, Kevin lost his wife Kim to breast cancer. He established the Kim Walters Choices program for Brisbane’s Wesley Hospital. Left to raise three young boys as a single father, he took a chance with Warrington in 2001, before coming back to Brisbane to finish his career.
Walters began his coaching career with the Toowoomba Clydesdales and assistant coach for the Broncos. After leaving the Broncos in 2005, he coached the Ipswich Jets before his time at Catalans.
Returning to Australia in 2010, Walters became assistant coach at the Storm, Newcastle, the Broncos and Queensland.
While some coaches enjoy the limelight and the pressure of the head coaching role, Walters seems content to bide his time in assistant roles and in the UK.
Will Walters continue Queensland’s dominance?
There’s no reason why he couldn’t. For a decade he’s been learning his craft under the best NRL coaches. Unlike Bellamy, Stuart and Daley, Walters will still have the core Maroons spine to play with. As long as Cameron Smith, Johnathan Thurston, Greg Inglis, Cooper Cronk and the rest have legs, Queensland will be hard to beat.
For all their recent improvement, New South Wales are still rebuilding. Without the ingrained combinations Queensland is blessed with, they will take time to find form and rhythm.
Kevin’s biggest asset will be the media. Queenslanders, remembering Kevvie’s charm as a player, will eat him up, while New South Welshman will find it very hard to hate him.
Kevin’s appointment is more of a feel good story, the pinnacle of a man who has endured success, heartache and done it with a smile, happily biding his time for his big chance.
He deserves it.
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