Kevin Walters has reacted to a rare State of Origin series loss by adding some of Queensland’s biggest names to his 2019 support staff.
Queensland coach Kevin Walters has reacted to a rare State of Origin series loss by axing long-serving Trevor Gillmeister and hiring some of the Maroons’ biggest names.
Gillmeister was the highest-profile casualty in sweeping staff changes for the 2019 Maroons, with Walters cutting the ex-Queensland captain as his defensive coach and recruiting Justin Hodges, Petero Civoniceva, Johnathan Thurston and Billy Slater.
Walters also dropped assistant Josh Hannay and long-time trainer Tony Spencer.
Hodges replaces Hannay as Maroons assistant and Civoniceva is the new team manager while Thurston and Slater will lend a hand at Maroons camps throughout the series.
Melbourne Storm’s Matthew Barradeen replaces Spencer as the new trainer.
Walters said he needed to take a new direction in 2019 as Queensland attempt to win back the Origin title after NSW won only their second series in 13 years this season.
“Trevor Gillmeister is a Queensland legend and Tony has worked tirelessly with the team for nearly 20 years as a trainer,” Walters said of his staff changes.
“They have been great servants, but I just felt that the time was right to get fresh faces in and around the team with the next generation of players coming through.”
Walters is focusing on his fourth season as Queensland coach after missing out on the Brisbane NRL coaching job.
Walters admitted last week that he was crestfallen to be overlooked for the Broncos gig after the NRL club opted for South Sydney’s Anthony Seibold to succeed Wayne Bennett.
Nat
Roar Guru
Is Hetherington still involved? Might see Dallas Johnson get a gig. Or Tallis, a Broncos man who's highly critical of Bennett. Does this generation find it so hard to relate to Gilly's Gen?
Emcie
Roar Guru
There must be more people brought in, I still don't understand who's actually replaced gilly
Wayne Turner
Guest
Fair enough on Hodges. But,the others if not coaching capacity,nice job for hanger on'ers.
Emcie
Roar Guru
To be fair, Hodges coached the under 20's origin side to its first victory in ages this year and the others don't seem to be there in a coaching capacity
Wayne Turner
Guest
Great players with no coaching experience,along with playing and coaching being totally different sets of skills. This could be amusing. The inbred nature of rugby league continues...
Emcie
Roar Guru
Dunno if those guys were potential suitors but the sceptic in me can't help but feel like it's an effort to cement his position after a pretty ugly series loss.
Nat
Roar Guru
It does have a reactionary (for missing the Broncos gig) feel to it. Gilly could take a fair bit of credit for shutting down Fifita in '17. Boof still has manager title as well now along with Petro. Maybe the Hodgo, Billy JT is an example about fun off the field but professional in the preparation? If I was a skeptic, I would argue he got rid of any potential suitors for the role.
Emcie
Roar Guru
Yeah, I'm not sure QLD's loss was down to the defensive coach so it seems like it's more about Walters wanting to establish his own systems then actually fixing anything. That said, who's actually replaced Gilly? Hodges replaced Hannay but Civinociva is now team manager and Billy and Thurston just seem to have "consulting" roles (that they could've done anyway). The only thing I can really take from this is that Kevvie seems to be committed to the role now after missing out on the Broncos job, though 4 years in seems a bit late to start establishing your regime. I sincerely hope this isn't based on conclusions from a review into the Origin loss, that'd be more concerning then if they just ignored it...
Nat
Roar Guru
I don't know about this. I understand Billy working with the next FB, giving him tips about positional play etc but how does JT teach what he used to bring? Gilly brought an old school work ethic and tackling technique. Hannay is a coach, he had reasonable success in the QRL and has been assistant to Green for a few years now. I'm not sure what having the greats of 3yrs ago brings aside from a reminder of a once in a generation group of players. Seems like change for changes sake.
Emcie
Roar Guru
Kevvie sure seems to like mass changes
Sludge McFlurrey
Guest
Walters was understandably crestfallen , Gilly was also crestfallen ,Hannay crestfallen ,Spencer crestfallen ,the majority of Queenslanders crestfallen. I’m crestfallen as a result of all these crestfallen people being crestfallen. Just a crestphukingfallen kinda day overall.