Staggering reports have emerged that Broncos coach Kevin Walters is facing a player revolt for his man-management style.
The Courier Mail's Peter Badel revealed Broncos players are confused with Walters' mixed messages and communication skills and according to a News Corp probe, Walters is "awkward" with his communication, vague and inconsistent in his messaging and fails to give players informative feedback.
Tensions began to emerge in the final weeks of pre-season when Walters failed to communicate to Corey Oates that he would play for the Broncos' feeder club Souths Logan.
Oates was unaware of the decision until Magpies coach Steve Bretherton called the 156-game NRL veteran in the week leading up to the game.
🚨 BRONCOS BOMBSHELL 🚨
JT responds to the report players are offside with Kevin Walters' coaching style.#9WWOS #NRL pic.twitter.com/Anm9olhjyH
— NRL on Nine (@NRLonNine) June 19, 2021
Walters was appointed by the Broncos to revitalise the culture and unite the club after the debacle that unfolded at the end of Wayne Bennett's reign and the Anthony Seibold era.
However, Walters' tenure has been overshadowed by reports of poor attention to detail, sloppy training methods, and shallow feedback.
The Broncos sit bottom of the ladder with three wins in 15 games, but more alarming they have won only four of their last 33 games.
Fox League's Cooper Cronk believes Walters' Broncos lack a technical gameplan and their game is built around emotion.
“It’s all on emotion and when they play poorly there’s nothing there in terms of technical effort and a few other areas. I’m not sure where this sits," Cronk said.
“I think the reason that the reason for bringing Kevvie back would bring the unity of the Broncos back together again.
“The few names contributing to the story are players that are on the so-called outer. I think Kevvie’s safe for the time being but he needs to get the Broncos playing a better style of football.”
There is nothing staggering about the Broncos situation. The reality set in a long time ago and so far Kevvie hasn’t been able to change the teams fortunes. With a bit of luck they could be on five wins, but a few things have gone against them in a couple of tight games. They played well against the Panthers recently, so it shows that the team has a fair amount of ability.
The acquisition of Adam Reynolds should at least give them some direction and they have some very good young players coming through. The return of Kotoni Staggs will give them a bit of thrust in the backline, but I think what they need is a couple of hardened old heads in the team. The coaching staff can only do so much and blaming Kevvie for his imperfections won’t solve the problems.
They are welcome to have “hard head” Josh Maguire back as far as I’m concerned and I can name a few more ex-Broncos they can have as well from the Dragons. Problem is, even the Broncos wouldn’t take them…