Kevin Walters has admitted the Brisbane Broncos were left 'empty' and 'pissed off' by their grand final loss on Sunday evening.
Despite bolting to a 24 points to 8 lead with just over 20 minutes to go, the Brisbane-based side coughed up their lead to fall short against a Nathan Cleary-inspired Panthers outfit.
Walters said post-game that the dressing room was very quiet as his side attempted to understand happened.
"Well there is no emotion in there. It's very quiet. It's just hard to get your head around what actually happened," Walters said during his post-game press conference.
"It's very disappointing. I feel for all the players in there that gave so much, but it just wasn't enough in the end."
Despite the loss, Walters said the club is in a much better spot than it was 12 months ago.
The 2022 season saw Brisbane collapse over the final two months of the season from the top four to miss the finals, and he said 2023 proved the Broncos aren't far away.
"I'm okay myself, but I just feel for those boys in there that gave so much, not just tonight but all season. I watched the AFL grand final yesterday and thought well that's not a nice way to lose for the Lions, and here we are sitting here in the same situation," Walters said.
"We should have won that game today, but we didn't. Hats off to Penrith, they played some good football at the back end. We obviously have to get better in our starts and finish.
"I think once the dust settles, everyone in that room can be extremely proud of where the club is now compared to where it was before these guys got their hands on the club. We can be proud of that, but tonight, we wanted to win a premiership and we didn't get it, so that pisses us off.
"Not in the first half [we didn't play how I wanted]. That second period there for 20 minutes there, that's the Broncos that I know and that's where we will get to. We aren't there yet, but when we get there, we will win premierships. We aren't far off as you saw tonight. We are a lot closer now than what we were 12 months ago."
Walters admitted he thought his side had done enough.
"I think the whole stadium thought we had done enough except for a few people, so something we can get better at next year certainly," the coach added.
"Right now, it's a pretty empty feeling."
Captain Adam Reynolds said the Broncos will be able to use the grand final loss as motivation to go again in 2024.
"You never want to feel that way again so you can use that as motivation," Reynolds said.
