The decision to sack Kevin Walters as head coach of the Broncos last season was “not a popular” choice, but has ultimately been proven correct by a premiership just a year later, despite a bizarre claim from the now Kangaroos mentor that he too would have delivered the ultimate glory in 2025.
Speaking on Wide World of Sports’ QLDER, Broncos director Darren Lockyer dug into the decision to move on from Walters just 12 months after his former teammate led the club to a first grand final in eight years, describing it as “not fun”.
Lockyer and the rest of the board were heavily criticised by Broncos old boys for axing Walters, with Gorden Tallis particularly vocal about the betrayal. Tallis, a regular pundit on Fox League and Triple M waged a campaign against incoming coach Michael Maguire that lasted throughout the season, even as the Reece Walsh-inspired team charged into the grand final.
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Walters was left to watch on from the sidelines as a team he helped assemble produced an epic comeback to defeat the Melbourne Storm and win the 2025 premiership title.
Former Broncos coach Kevin Walters watches the team play from the bench. Getty
It was an achievement that the 57-year-old had almost reached with the team in 2023, but a troubling run of results just a year after that heartbreaking grand final loss to Penrith ultimately cost him his job.
Maguire needed but one season to taste the ultimate success with the Broncos, although Walters believes if he were in charge in 2025, the club still would have won the title.
“If I had still been at the Broncos, sure I would have won a premiership, but I wouldn’t be doing this,” Walters said on the Inside Ball podcast when asked about his new role as head coach of the Australian Kangaroos.
Explaining the decision on QLDER, Lockyer said Maguire’s “completely different approach” to coaching ultimately swayed the club to go in a new direction.
“It’s definitely not easy, definitely not,” Lockyer said of the call to sack Walters.
“It is not fun or something that you want to do. There are players who we’ve won premierships with … it was not a popular decision.
“But Madge came in and had a completely different approach.
“He comes with a hard edge. He is all about standards and discipline, which makes a big difference to your culture.
“At the start, it looked really good, then he hit some rough water, but he was confident he would get out on the other side with them and he did.”
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Darren Lockyer is a non-executive director of the Brisbane Broncos. Â Getty
The Broncos looked to be out of the premiership race after a round 13 loss to Manly had them languishing outside the eight, but Lockyer never lost faith due to his insider view of how Maguire was operating.
The loss to the Sea Eagles was Brisbane’s fourth straight, leading to intense criticism of the decision to axe Walters. At that point they had won five games from 12 under Maguire and a promising start to the season looked to be turning to dust.
“From an outside looking in, you’d say there’s no way you could win a premiership from [there],” Lockyer said.
“Sometimes being on the inside of those four walls talking to Madge, I could see this confidence in what he was saying. I remember telling a few people around that time, we were 18 to 1 (with some bookmakers) and I told some people to back us. I thought we could win.
“Just through the tone of Madge, I had a lot of confidence that we would turn it around.
“We were always confident that we were going to get out of that form slump.”
Despite the success of the Maguire appointment, Lockyer added that the positive influence of Walters had been overlooked in setting things up for his successor had been overlooked.
Lockyer said the acquisition of Adam Reynolds was one of Walters’ most important decisions during his four-year tenure.
“He did a lot of good things for the club while he was there,” Lockyer said.
“He did an amazing job to get them from a wooden spoon to a grand final.
“He was instrumental in getting Adam Reynolds to the club and he brought some players in that have made a big difference.
“He did a lot of good things.”