Kangaroos skipper Isaah Yeo is too young to remember much about Kevin Walters as a player, but he can\u2019t wait to be coached by the Broncos legend, who is expected to be announced as the Australian coach for this year\u2019s Ashes series.<\/p>\n
Walters will replace Mal Meninga, who stepped down to focus on his new role as inaugural coach of the Perth Bears, with Yeo relieved they\u2019ve settled on someone who can now start planning for the Ashes tour that begins in October.<\/p>\n
Yeo found out through the media that Walters would be taking over and has endorsed the former Broncos and Maroons coach to lead the national side even though it hasn\u2019t been formally announced.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s come out and said how much of an honour it\u2019ll be to be able to coach Brisbane, Queensland and his last one was going to be Australia,\u201d the Golden Boot winner said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m super excited for him. You can see how much it means to him already and I\u2019d love to be a part of it with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a bit before my time (watching him play), but you hear stories about how good he was. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou can see how much he meant to the players by talking to the Broncos boys. If it wasn\u2019t for Nathan Cleary (killing it) for 16 or 17 minutes, then he\u2019d be a premiership-winning coach.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone I\u2019ve spoken to has massive raps on him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wayne Bennett had been in the mix to take over but was eventually ruled out given he coaches an NRL side, while Immortal-in-waiting Cameron Smith was also in contention after Brad Fittler pulled out of the race.<\/p>\n
One of the reasons Fittler didn\u2019t take the job was because there were only a few months to go until the Tests started and there was still so much planning to do for matches overseas. <\/p>\n
It\u2019s why Yeo is happy that they\u2019ve gone with someone who has no links to club land, with Walters keeping himself busy with his media work with Fox Sports.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt helps now with how late it\u2019s been because it\u2019d be hard being an NRL coach and having to worry about a push to the finals and then you\u2019re trying to do this stuff on top of it,\u201d Yeo said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been pretty busy, Kev, doing a lot with Fox at the moment, but it certainly helps because he\u2019s now got three months to try to figure it out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s probably where it\u2019s gotten a little bit hard for whoever was going to come in because it\u2019s going to be rushed for them. It\u2019s nice that it\u2019s all done and sealed and we can now get to planning what will hopefully be a successful series over there. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019d love to be a part of it because of the history behind it and what it means to the English \u2013 not just the players \u2013 but the fans over there and how passionate they are. I like anything to do with history, so it\u2019d be really cool to be a part of.\u201d <\/p>\n
Walters played in the 1992 Ashes series and will bring plenty of passion when the rivalry returns after a 22-year hiatus.<\/p>\n
Yeo doesn\u2019t remember much from the 2003 series but is expecting a tight contest just 12 months out from the next World Cup. <\/p>\n
\u201cI would have been too young. I do remember getting up and watching England games, but that was really rare and those were really early memories,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cYou hear about the tours and how outstanding they were. We were lucky enough to play a World Cup over there.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can feel that England have been building towards this. They had the disappointment of the World Cup, but then they had the Tonga and the Samoa series and they\u2019ve been building towards something with this group under Shaun Wane.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can tell it\u2019s going to be a cracking series, and those are the ones you want to be in. Any time you pull on the Australian jersey is the pinnacle of the sport, but to be able to do that in a series like that is awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n