Zero Tackle NRL debate: Should the Broncos re-sign Kevin Walters?

The Brisbane Broncos have this week have been linked with the re-signing of Kevin Walters, potentially before the 2023 NRL season kicks off.

The coach has been in charge of the Red Hill-based club since the start of the 2021 season, but in two attempts, is yet to qualify for the finals, owing to the dismal fade out of 2022.

Since the 2022 campaign ended, there have been instances where players have used podcasts to speak out against the coach and his ability in the media, but that doesn't appear to be about to stop the Broncos in re-signing the coach.

2023 is set up as a crunch year for Walters, but that may not matter if he manages to put pen to paper before Round 1.

When the subject was floated around the Zero Tackle channels earlier this week, our editor, Scott Pryde, and digital reporter, Jack Blyth, had rather contrasting views on the topic, so we asked them to put it down on paper and let you decide.

Jack Blyth: The Broncos should re-sign Kevin Walters

Inheriting a wooden spoon side in 2021, Walters lifted them ever-so-slightly to 14th that season before recruiting Adam Reynolds and Kurt Capewell, and dragging the club to the top four with six rounds to play.

There's a lot of voices arguing that Walters' extension is either undeserved or premature, 'why not wait until midway through the season, there's no one chasing him'.

This club has never been as unstable as it has been these last few seasons. Prior to 2020, the Broncos had missed the finals twice. Ever. They've now missed three straight finals series.

Once a glamour club and the pride of Queensland, more than anything, the Broncos need stability. While they're a rich club, it's certainly hard to recruit players when they don't know who the coach is going to be.

They're also a public company on the ASX, meaning that the state of the club on and off the field translates to more than a ladder position or a back-page, there's a lot more to this football team than meets the eye.

But the thing that 'Kevvie' brings, important as anything, is passion. During that wooden spoon season under Anthony Seibold, this once culturally-rich club was lost at sea, without a leader, without someone to show them what it meant to pull on a Brisbane Broncos jersey.

Walters has the ability to instill pride and belief into the threads these players wear each week, and while they club could easily wait until mid-season without losing him to a rival, the Broncos need to know where they're going.

In the  club's 35 years history, the Brisbane Broncos, not including interim stewards, has hired five coaches.

Wayne Bennett, Ivan Henjak, Anthony Griffin, Anthony Seibold, and Kevin Walters.

Whilst not every member was successful, in fact only Wayne Bennett has collected a premiership trophy at the club, it's a prestigious five-man club. Not everyone can coach the Broncos.

While Sydney's 5.3 million population have nine clubs to split their angst towards, Brisbane and their 2.3 million have just the one, adding more and more pressure to the club.

Walters isn't Wayne Bennett or Craig Bellamy, but he's as driven and clearly loves the club, and that should be enough to sell Broncos fans that he's worthy of an extension, especially if it means giving this once-great club even a fraction of stability.

They've been yearning for it for too long.

Scott Pryde: The Broncos shouldn't re-sign Kevin Walters

As a Dragons fan, this whole report gave me a flashback to exactly this day last year.

February 16, after hours, and the Dragons drop an absolute bombshell that made me just about spit my dinner out across the table - they take up the club option on Anthony Griffin's contract for 2023 without a ball being kicked in 2022.

There are no other clubs chasing him, and Griffin is yet to prove himself in charge of the Red V after a poor 2021 served as his first year in charge.

Fast forward 12 months, and there is no option in Walters' deal, but he might be about to sign a new one at Red Hill, despite the fact he is also yet to prove himself in charge of the club.

The difference between Walters and Griffin? At least Griffin had some moderate levels of success elsewhere before his arrival at the Dragons, even if that hasn't carried across to the Red V.

But enough about the plight of my Dragons.

The Broncos have had two years under Walters and proven approximately nothing at this stage.

2021 was never going to be a fun year for Walters as he took over the club on the back of their first-ever wooden spoon in what was a horrible, but albeit predictable slump in 2020.

Heading into that 2020 season, the Broncos had a squad which didn't have a controlling halfback, had too many backs, not enough forward depth and were only one or two problems away from being the worst in the competition - which is exactly where they ended up.

2021 didn't exactly turn things around, with the Broncos avoiding the wooden spoon thanks to the outright horrendous Canterbury Bulldogs, who won just three games all year.

2022 was supposed to be the time things would turn a dramatic corner for the Broncos.

Adam Reynolds had arrived, the man earmarked as a future club captain in Patrick Carrigan was back from injury, Payne Haas continued to grow as a player, and Walters should have been better for the run.

And they were better for a large chunk of the season.

But there is no point sitting in the top four or close enough too for the best part of 19 rounds if you're ultimately going to miss the finals, as the Broncos had occur to them in 2022.

It was one of the most dismal fadeouts in recent memory, and one that will live long in the minds of fans, players and coaches alike.

But it should also put the brakes on any plans the Broncos had on re-signing Walters mid last year. A coach is judged on their ability to coach across an entire season, have his team peak at the right time, and ultimately, the final result.

The final result was an unmissable finals being missed for the Red Hill-based outfit, and when you consider they lost to the Tigers and Dragons, as well as let in 60 against the Storm and 53 against the Eels, that is a fair knock on Walters.

Re-signing him before a ball has been kicked in 2023 would be madness. If the Broncos are near enough to the top after eight rounds, then go for it.

But until then, it's time to sit tight.