Brisbane Broncos young gun Selwyn Cobbo has made the startling claim that Kevin Walters "isn't a good coach."
Walters, who had the Broncos humming on all cylinders throughout much of the 2022 campaign, was forced to watch his side fall from fourth on the table to outside of the finals during the final seven weeks of the competition.
The first 19 weeks of the season had been a major turnaround for the Red Hill-based outfit, who had sat pinned to the bottom of the NRL table during previous seasons.
Cobbo, who has re-signed with the Broncos in June to remain with the club until at least the end of the 2025 season, will again line up on the wing for the club in 2023.
He has a long-term vision to move to fullback, but that has been thrown on the backburner even further over the off-season by the arrival of Reece Walsh, who was granted a release from the final year of his contract at the New Zealand Warriors due to personal reasons to link up with his junior club.
Cobbo's comments on the "Back of the 135" podcast came in late October, but have surfaced over the weekend.
โI reckon he's a good person,โ Cobbo said.
โHe's a good person, like a good bloke but I don't think he's a good coach. He's not the best coach but he's alright.
โI feel like he's just a good person but I don't reckon he's a coach. Even though he experienced footy, been through all the grand finals and all that, but I feel like he's not a coach.
โBut he's a good person, a good bloke and does a lot for the club. But the way he coaches is a bit weird, I guess. He's a good person though. He's an alright coach.โ
The incredible comments from the youngster follow reports during the year that most of the competition was interested in signing him for 2023 and beyond.
Rated as one of the best juniors in the game, Cobbo made his Queensland State of Origin debut this season.
The Broncos released a statement on Sunday morning following the comments hitting the media, with Cobbo apologising and saying they were "taken out of context."
โToday's article on a podcast I did last year has been taken out of context. It was two guys chatting and joking about silly things like the comments about Kev that had been made by Tyson," Cobbo said in the statement.
โThe fact is that Kev is a very good coach, as are all of our coaches at the Broncos. I was lucky enough to play Origin for Queensland last year and that is off the back of the coaching of Kev and his team.
โKev has taught me a lot since coming into the NRL squad and provided me with great support as I adjusted to the professionalism of NRL.
โI was late to training a few times and instead of cutting me, he educated me and supported me.
โWhen I felt burnt out late in the year, Kev rested me and when he thought I was ready he gave me more responsibilities.
โI have already contacted Kev to apologise and I'd like to extend that to his family and the whole Broncos club for this unwarranted attention over some silly comments from me.โ
