I was pleased when Kevin Walters was appointed Queensland coach, albeit belatedly after the problems with Paul Green’s attempted appointment.
Origin seems to have become so big now that a full-time coach and staff is required to put the planning and strategy into a campaign. The days of a club coach juggling both jobs are long gone.
As I admire Paul Green as a coach, he couldn’t do justice to both jobs and I thought it was the right decision for him to turn the Queensland gig down.
So that said, I wonder why Walters has continued his full-time role as a Fox Sports commentator. It’s almost unprecedented that someone with such a high-profile coaching position has continued to hold such a prominent role in the media.
Laurie Daley stood down from Fox immediately after he became the NSW coach, presumably to make his coaching role his first and only priority so why hasn’t Walters done the same?
It may well be that it’s perfectly feasible for Walters to do both jobs and if Queensland win the series again you can be sure that this issue will never be raised. But in the event of a Queensland loss, every angle will be scrutinised in the post mortem and I’d imagine that quite rightfully this may be a point that is raised.
What do you think Roarers? Should Kevvie have put the media responsibilities on hold?
The first State of Origin match takes place on June 1 at ANZ Stadium in Sydney.
Farmduck
Roar Rookie
Isn't commentating a perfect job, allowing him to get to plenty of matches and watch all the Qlders up close? He's already banned 8, or 10, or whatever so he doesn't need to spend much time on selections. Might as well get out to games and check out the opposition.
Brett
Guest
Parker a has been? Did you miss the 2015 series where he won the Wally Lewis medal for player of the series?
jacksyd
Guest
Love the way he gives big wraps on ordinary players suggesting they are NSW origin potential. Nice try Kev but we do bad enough picking duds as it is. Having said that, hope he sticks with the has beens Darius Boyd, Thaiday and Parker to even it out.
Spookweno
Guest
Agreed. He is ordinary.
Scott Pryde
Expert
Walters shouldn't be commentating because he is just not good. End of story, enough said.
The power of Will
Roar Pro
No
Pat Malone
Guest
Daley takes the NSW job too seriously3 games a year
GD66
Guest
As long as he's not commentating Origin matches, it should be fine...
Planko
Guest
Commentating of cowboys home games has been a disgrace since they arrived in the comp it is usually biased and resembles barracking. Gus Gould does not do Penrith games and I know fatty avoids Manly games for reason. I am ok with him commentating by please not cowboys games the fox guys last night are a joke and should come with disclaimer. They went silent on Nqld s first try ...
Brett
Guest
1) Meninga had multiple jobs during his 10 years of coaching QLD. For example, he was heavily involved with rugby league development in PNG and ran his own fruit business. It didn't seem to have an effect on his QLD role. 2) Daley quit his other commitments when he became coach of NSW, but it doesn't seem to have made any difference on his coaching career. 3) While commentating, Walters gets a close view of potential QLD players for the future (even this series if injuries to were occur). 4) The QLD coaching role revolves more around preparing the players physically and mentally for each game. It is widely known that the QLD brains trust include people like Hagan, Lockyer, Smith, JT and Cronk.
iain herning
Guest
A coach is after all just that if the team fails he is there to blame and Walters is no different , remember Mal i got nothing out of football Maninga had a team of champions who were fantastic , but will Kevviy have the same players and the same impact , time will tell .
Emcie
Roar Guru
Regarding the broncos thing, I thought that was more of a potential conflict of interest situation then a workload issue
East Bound & Down
Guest
Geez Turbo I hope your right , but this has been predicted a kazillion times before and so far , well we all know what's happened so far . I can't see why Kevvie can't do whateva the fook he likes , who is anyone to say he should or shouldn't commentate, he comes over well when he's on air and provides another perspective on things .
Mike from tari
Guest
I think it belittles the position of Qld Coach same as Meninga as Australian coach & Daley as NSW coach, in Meninga's newspaper column all he talks about are the Qld teams, he's the Aussie coach so he should not be showing any bias, I just wonder if the Foxtel boss tells these guys who to pick & threatened their extra money income??????????
turbodewd
Guest
K.Walters is going to preside over a miserable 0-3 loss to the Blues this year - mark my words laddies LOL
The Koomz
Guest
I like Kevie's commentary...Its good for spectators hearing what the Qld coach expect from individual players or how highly he rates fringe players yet to break into the squad. It was interesting hearing his analysis on Ethan Lowe's game last night, I really think Lowe has a genuine opportunity to break into the Qld team this year..
Edward Kelly
Roar Guru
Kevin is a ok commentator for half of the game, those bits that involve Queensland players, otherwise he doesn't know their names.
Birdy
Guest
Although I swore to cut off Murdoch TV last year , I found giving up RL 360 and Sterlo was just a bridge too far. Kevvie and Lozza on live TV , why not? NSW 2-1.
spookweno
Guest
He shouldn't be commentating games because he is ordinary. He adds nothing. Someone needs to get in his ear and remind him he's not at the pub with his mates. It seriously hurts my ears to hear him dribble on about nothing... Let alone he doesn't seem to be paying attention. Example in the Cowboys game last night he was rabbiting on about how the Cowboys need to try something different and go to their right side attack, to use Morgan. The fact is they'd gone to the right side and Morgan 4 or 5 times previously with no results. Seriously, how much is he getting paid?
eagleJack
Roar Guru
There's a bit of a running joke up here highlighted on Triple M regularly mocking what exactly Kevvie does to fill his days. Last week they had Kevvie on in the morning and wanted him to lay out his plans for the day. He had one meeting that afternoon to discuss QLD coaching development. So they told him to get off air quickly to prepare for the meeting in 6 hours time! It's all in good fun, but everyone knows there's very little the guy has to do outside of the Origin window. The team picks itself. And the structures are all in place. Interestingly he was forced to step down from his assistant coaching role with the Broncos who didn't believe he could juggle both jobs. Yet Bennett can somehow manage the Head coaching role of England too. International league seemingly not requiring you to even set foot in the country you are coaching. I find that more strange than Kevvie doing a bit of commentating on the side.