Broncos coach Kevin Walters will keep his job for the 2023 season, but his future beyond that is far from secure after a shocking end to their 2022 campaign.
Brisbane sat inside the top four in Round 19, but shockingly finished ninth and out of finals football for a second year under Walters, who is off-contract after next season.
Following an internal review into the club’s tumultuous season, club chairman Karl Morris said the 54-year-old would see out the final year of his contract.
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“The way I view it is that he has a contract until the end of next year and at some stage during the year we will have a conversation with him about going onto a normal employee contract or extending his current contract,” Morris told AAP.
“I assume it would be a yearly contract. I don’t see what the benefit or upside is in having any employee, forget just Kevin Walters, on any more than a one-year contract.”
During the Broncos stunning six-week spiral, two huge losses to the Eels and Storm were reportedly of grave concern.
Walters’ side lost to the Storm by 60 points, and to Parramatta by 53 points in a period that included only a singular win over the Knights.
Brisbane also lost to the Wests Tigers, Roosters and ultimately the Dragons which sealed their fate in Round 25.
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Walters was emotional when speaking to media after the Broncos were bundled out of the finals, while skipper Adam Reynolds was clearly in shock.
“The season’s over so words don’t mean too much now, we’ve got to have a good look at ourselves — staff and players — over the next couple of weeks and look forward to next season, that’s all we can do,” Walters said.
“We lacked the effort and discipline in the last five weeks that’s required. We had it in the first 20 weeks… but just let it go.”
“It’s not a reflection of our season, our season was built on hard work… it was just a waste in the end there,” Reynolds said.
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