The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) has confirmed the extension of Kevin Walters as Kangaroos coach ahead of the 2026 Rugby League World Cup.<\/p>\n
ARLC Chairman Peter V\u2019landys AM said he was pleased that Walters\u2019 contract, which was due to expire on June 30, 2026, had been extended for a further two years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was very impressed with the feedback from the Kangaroos players when they were surveyed, giving Kevin enormous praise as a coach and motivator,\u201d Mr V\u2019landys said.<\/p>\n
\u201cKevin did an outstanding job and I\u2019m very pleased to announce him as the Kangaroos coach for the most important tournament in many years.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs Kangaroo number 612, Kevin has displayed passion for the jersey as well as for his players. I saw first-hand in the UK the way the players responded to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe World Cup is a wonderful opportunity for the game to be showcased on the international stage and I\u2019m excited Kevin will be leading the national team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walters played 291 matches through a first-grade career with Canberra Raiders and Brisbane Broncos, winning six Premierships through his career. He played 20 State of Origin games for Queensland, as well as 11 Test matches for the Kangaroos. As a player, he was also part of the 1990 and 1994 Kangaroo Tours.<\/p>\n
Walters said he was looking forward to guiding the Kangaroos in a World Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe experience I had with the team at the Ashes was a privilege and very rewarding,\u201d Walters said. \u201cNow to be able to continue into a home World Cup will be a huge honour.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorld Cups always provide the biggest challenges, and I\u2019m looking forward to assembling a great, experienced staff and playing group to have a successful tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very grateful for this opportunity. I never thought in my wildest dreams I\u2019d be Kangaroos coach in a World Cup. It\u2019s very humbling.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Australian Rugby League Commission (ARLC) has confirmed the extension of Kevin Walters as Kangaroos coach ahead of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":428804,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[111,139,69,213],"class_list":["post-428803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}