The lashing was so brutal that Kevin Walters didn’t want anyone to see, with the Brisbane coach taking a jersey to cover broadcast cameras inside his devastated dressing room.
Without TV screens fixed on him, the frustrated Broncos coach served up some truths for the ages on Friday night after a 46-6 loss to Parramatta in Darwin, their sixth loss for the year.
After seven games in charge, the pressure is mounting on the club legend, who has so far failed to turn the wooden spooners around in 2021.
(Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
“He was pretty upset, he knows what we’re capable of. To come out and play like that is pretty embarrassing to be honest,” said star prop Payne Haas, who has been the bright spot for the Broncos this year.
“Kev’s a passionate bloke and he loves the Broncos and what we showed tonight was not a Broncos performance.”
Friday night’s loss follows an encouraging performance against Penrith last week that was expected to springboard the side into better form against the Eels.
All it did was highlight how far off the pace they are with the top NRL clubs this season.
Walters presented an agitated but collected figure for the cameras after delivering his players a serve over a lack of ball control and a mass of missed tackles against the Eels.
The Broncos missed a whopping 51 tackles and made 16 errors.
“(Parramatta) controlled the ball well, they’ve got a big side and they did exactly what we wanted to do,” Walters said.
“It just goes to show how far apart we are from those better sides on a consistency basis.”
It’s a struggle Walters knows is his to fix as well as keeping hope alive in the squad before they play Gold Coast next weekend.
“I mean, that’s my job and the rest of the coaching staff is to make sure that we’re prepared well every week,” he said.
“I’m not concerned about (players dropping their heads) at all.
“It’s a long season.”
Big Mig
Roar Rookie
I'd say enough of the sprays and talks Kevvie, start axing players at will, bring in all the reserves, they might still get smashed but at least the reserves have potential and may try harder.
Muzz
Guest
The Broncos have offered Cam Smith a 4 year $4.6M deal to come up and sort thing out.
elvis
Roar Rookie
You would have thought after losing a grand final for us he might have taken the hint...
Forty Twenty
Roar Rookie
How does one player being injured prove any point? Foran has played every game this season and so has Croker and they were constantly injured before the new rules. Doesn't prove anything. It was almost universally agreed by the posters on the Roar that Mitchell didn't have the fitness to be a fullback , even under the old rules. If he can do well despite the rules then so can others. If the Broncos played like the Saints are playing they would be doing fine. Saints were favored to win the spoon and anyone making that prediction did so being aware of the roster they have and the rules. They then sign the slowest hooker in the comp and it apparently increases the spoon prospects.
Adam
Roar Guru
The Bronx needs halves and centres that can tackle because they don't have a gillette anymore who'll do all the tackling for both himself and the half next to him. Next they need a fullback who can catch a bomb consistenly. Isaako is a bit of a liability back there...
Tom G
Roar Rookie
AFB is out for the next few months injured.. so how does that not confirm the point? Also Mitchell is an 80 minute player, always has been
souvalis
Roar Rookie
Take a breath, I don’t like the Rabbitohs very much..I’m thinking he’d fit perfectly at the Sharks with AR and SJ..
souvalis
Roar Rookie
Untold cruelty..have you no heart for the homesick or those like Milford who need to be near distant relatives ?
Larry1950
Guest
What are you saying Souvalis, you Rabbitohs have employed the Roosters salary cap manager to recruit Haas. Supposedly have to shed Reynolds & Gagai to ensure you can afford Mitchell etc on upgraded deals but can find money for a 21 year old SoO prop.
Emcie
Roar Guru
Payne's got 3 more years left, no way he's getting a release
Emcie
Roar Guru
Yeah, it was concerning how our only points when doing everything right (or at least not doing everything wrong) came from a bit of luck off a kick and an individual effort 10m out against some sloppy defence. With a mountain of possesion and all the momentum in the second half we couldn't come up with so much as a field goal. I know people don't like Milf, but at least he created some opportunities (even if they were wasted by a lack of support). Croft doesn't seem capable of creating anything that hasn't been mapped out a week in advance (and he's hit or miss even then), Dearden seems a bit gunshy and when he has created something has invariably butchered it seconds later and without Fitita or Staggs (for the moment) scoring out of nowhere there's noone else really left to build any attack around.
souvalis
Roar Rookie
Worse, it’s all one way traffic out of the joint. Dogs have got a couple of handy imports for next year to brighten the place up a bit with more expected. Heard nothing on that front for Brizzie..why would Payne want to hang around in a foreign state if he could join a better atmosphere in his homeland on similar money.. Payne ? Payne ?
Malo
Guest
Too many chiefs (coaches) , it is dead set ridiculous. How about a fitness coach, they spend most their time at Maccas. They are terrible.
Tim Carter
Roar Pro
Mal too.
Rellum
Roar Guru
Everyone was happier with the Panthers game but to me that game showed how hapless this team is in attack with the new rules. They only looked capable when it was one out stuff and they did a LOT of that. As soon as it was spread wide the ball was dropped or passes missed. They were a shambles in any play more than one pass. I really think most of these guys are not footballers and are just athletes who thrived under the old rules where they could rest up and run where they were told to run and pass when they were told to pass. Kevie is going to have to keep it very simple in attack if we are not going to be changing the squad greatly.
Nat
Roar Guru
I've been said supporter yelling at him. Among many others doing the same thing.
The Sporacle
Roar Rookie
I think the change in the look of the Panthers pack highlights your point perfectly, the change in Villiame 20 to 21 is noticable
Bronc12
Guest
Worst spine in the comp. wingers and centre no idea of reading the game. This is the most troubling time in the history of the broncos. Thing is it is not change anytime soon.
thomas c
Guest
Most of the time, I can come up with some positives. I'm struggling. The defensive weaknesses are probably compounded by moving players between left and right. But there wasn't the same intensity as the last week and the attack is horribly flat. The halves don't seem to steer the team and there are a number of players who haven't proven themselves in their position (which is troubling because some of them are at an age where they should be peaking rather than still being question marks). He can't drop people because he can't have confidence that the replacements will be an improvement (as opposed to just being the latest destabilizing effect). At this rate, I don't see any scenario where they don't cut milford and throw money at some known halves. Walters needs this year to be an improvement (and a lot of that comes down to whether he can get dearden to develop). But two bad years and he's probably out of a job. It's dispiriting.
Emcie
Roar Guru
Aside for pet plays (like TPJ close to the line) its hard to tell if the game plan is based on the opposition or if it’s a result of the team that gets named. Last week there was a pretty clear focus on bombs to To’o, but I’m not sure if that was based around video on To’o or if it’s just Coates wing and they see that as their best chance of scoring full stop. Milf was sending bombs down the right corner fairly regularly as well in the opening month. But with the team struggling to get out of their own half without turning the ball over half the time its hard to get a guage on any overarching strategy other then individual efforts which was a criticism of Kevvie when coaching QLD. I dunno with Coates, can’t tell if he’s down on confidence, being put in a bad position through a poorly thought out game plan, been worked out by the opposition or a mixture of the lot. But to be fair on the right edge defence, it’s also been the edge thats lined up against the oppositions best attacking edge of every team they’ve faced bar the Bulldogs that dont’ have any attacking edge and Melbourne that went straight through the middle. The wingers on the left side have also been standing a mile inside as well no matter who it is so it’s gotta be some sort of plan (not sure why for the life of me…). It’s just hard to get a gauge on where the real issues lay when school boy errors are clouding any trace of gameplans. The only game where we actually cut out the errors for the most part showed a very stripped back set of tactics so I’m not sure what to think.