The Broncos have gone from seven wins and 17 losses in their first season under Kevin Walters in 2020 to 5-0 premiership contenders two short years later.
Brisbane were a rabble when Walters took over from Anthony Seibold in 2021, but through some shrewd contract calls on bloated deals, some key signings and an improved defensive game they are on track to break a 17-year title drought.
The blueprint for turning a basket case into a juggernaut in two short seasons has been revealed and every struggling club in the NRL should take note.
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Parker: How the Broncos revived | 01:27
The first order of business when Walters took over was to balance the Broncos’ salary cap and get overpaid and underperforming players’ contracts off their books starting with Anthony Milford’s $1 million a season deal.
Peter Badel noted on NRL 360 that the Broncos also let go of two big money forwards Tevita Pangai Junior and Matt Lodge, the latter of which was one of their most consistent forwards at the time.
Badel used the Tigers’ current predicament as evidence that it is impossible to reshape a roster when there are underperforming players on bloated contracts eating up a team’s salary cap.
“The Broncos two years ago identified Matt Lodge and Tevita Pangai Jr, two of their highest earners as players they needed to remove to take the club forward,” Badel said on NRL 360.
“The Broncos are now top of the competition.
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“If the Tigers had the gumption to get rid of Luke Brooks and said, look we are going to cop a massive hit on our cap, as the Broncos did, we can move forward.
“They will not move forward with Luke Brooks who I believe has talent, but he is on too much money and they need a break from each other.”
The next step for Walters was to instil toughness back in his players to approach particularly the defensive side of the game with the required intensity.
In his second year in charge he was on the right track, but his young side failed to maintain the rage after making it to the top four in Round 19.
The late season fade-out was catastrophic at the time and hard to watch for Broncos fans, but in hindsight it may have been a blessing in disguise.
Walters used the disappointment of not making the finals to drive the standards of the club all off-season and the Broncos have started their 2023 campaign like a team desperate to get the sour taste from the end of last year out of their mouths.
Michael Ennis believes the young Broncos players learnt a lot from their 2022 late season fade-out and perhaps more than they would have had they limped into the finals and continued to believe their own hype.
“I think they learnt some hard lessons out of last year,” Ennis said on NRL 360.
“I think they went through a couple of years where they didn’t get results and they had forgotten how to win a little bit.
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“Then they had that success last year and at the back end of the year when you are young and you start winning some footy games, you start to enjoy yourself and take the foot off the pedal with your preparation a little bit.
“You start to enjoy life around town a little bit because you are winning and everyone is happy and the mood is good.
“Then all of a sudden all that effort stuff that you put in at the start of the season and all those foundations that you built and the discipline that you had in your preparations to games starts to be not as important and all of a sudden it drops off.
“Your form then drops off and it is too hard to get back.”
Ennis believes Walters used the disappointment of the final phase of their 2022 season to get his side prepared for the marathon that is a full NRL campaign and the proof is in the pudding early in 2023.
“I think it was a great test of character for Brisbane,” Ennis said.
‘NOT FAIR!’ Haas humilates Tigers | 00:40
“They came up against Penrith in Penrith and they came up against the Cowboys who not only are one of their arch rivals, but were one of the competition favourites at the start of the year in Rounds 1 and 2.
“If they had of lost those two you would imagine the Brisbane media would have jumped all over them and straight on top of Kevvie and it would have caught on like wild fire pretty quick.
“What Walters has done with the group and how he has got them back to where they need to be mentally over the summer and the character they have shown in the joint, it deserves the recognition that they are getting. They are a red hot side.”
In addition to offloading the right players, recruitment has been another key contributor to the Broncos’ revival.
First they brought in two premiership winners in Adam Reynolds from Souths to run the backs and Kurt Capewell from the Panthers to lead the forwards.
The Broncos always had plenty of young talent in players like Selwyn Cobbo, Ezra Mam, Jordan Riki and Herbie Farnworth, but they needed some wily veterans to teach them what it takes to be consistent.
However, Ennis believes the difference between the 2023 Broncos and last year’s team is the decision to bring Reece Walsh back to his junior club from the Warriors.
Ennis believes the Broncos had all the ingredients, but were missing a strike player in attack that could win games with one moment of brilliance.
“I also look at the signing of Reece Walsh and I think back to Ben Barba at Cronulla,” Ennis said.
“That took a brave decision from Shane Flanagan because Michael Gordon was a great clubman and he was eight out of 10 every week for us.
“But the side needed an X-factor. It needed someone that could break open a game when we were going 14-all, 16-all, 18-16 and Ben was that guy.
“That’s what Reece Walsh is to Brisbane. He is the point of difference for them.
“When Reynolds is kicking into corners, Haas and Carrigan are brutal through the middle, Reece Walsh can come up with moments that can win them a premiership.”
Walters revealed the Broncos never wanted to let Walsh go, but believes his time at the Warriors has had a silver lining and prepared him to hit the ground running in his return season at Red Hill.
“We’re really excited to have Reece back at the club,” Walters said on NRL 360.
“We didn’t want to lose him a couple of years ago, but I think it has been a blessing for him really going and playing at the Warriors and getting that NRL experience.
“He has come back to us with 35 games under his belt and Reece is another one who hasn’t even turned 21 yet and some of the football he has been playing has been absolutely great stuff.
“We are working hard and particularly Darius Boyd has been looking after our younger outside backs with their defence and I think we have seen some good improvements in Reece.
“He is just a young kid who has come back to us, back to his home and he is playing some really good footy and we are really happy to have him.
Broncos make it five straight wins! | 02:18
“I love Reece’s energy and personality and what he brings to us is really good both on and off the field.”
Walsh is a game-changing ingredient that has taken the Broncos to greater heights and made them more dangerous, but Reynolds may prove to be one of the most important Broncos signings ever and certainly in the NRL era.
The Broncos have struggled to find a halfback to lead the team around since Kevin Walters and Allan Langer retired, with champion five-eighth Darren Lockyer often playing like a hybrid six and seven throughout the second half of his illustrious career.
Paul Kent alluded to the genius of signing Reynolds to steer the ship because he gives every other Broncos player the confidence and freedom to focus solely on their won job.
“We talk about inexperience in the spine and one of the things that you have done and we can see the benefits of it now is bring Adam Reynolds in,” Kent put to Walters.
“All the young Broncos players are all on the up, but then you have got this guy Adam Reynolds who is just sitting there and plugging everybody in to do what they need to do isn’t he?”
Walters has no doubt Reynolds has been the catalyst for enormous change at the Broncos after taking on the bulk of the playmaking and kicking duties combined with his leadership as captain both on and off the field.
“He certainly is Kenty and he was a masterstroke for us to get him up here a couple of years ago,” Walters replied.
“I see the brilliance of his brain more than anything else on the field. Coaching him he is one step ahead of the play like all the great halves are.
“I see it every week from him and as long as our guys and particularly our forwards can keep us in the game with our defence, Adam will get us around the park and we will get the required points for victory.
“But he has just been great for us and what I like about Adam is not just on the field, but off the field as well.
Brisbane Broncos Press Conference | 07:24
“He has been a great addition to our club and we are really happy to have him running out each week as captain of the Broncos.”
The sight of the Broncos backline humming in the first five rounds, while the club Reynolds was forced out of Souths have been clunky in attack and spluttered their way to two wins from five starts.”
Reynolds took so much heat off Cody Walker and Latrell Mitchell and allowed them to play to their strengths and now Ezra Mam and the Broncos’ outside backs are reaping the same benefits.
However, the Broncos’ attack and all their brilliant weapons with the ball would mean nothing unless they addressed their leaky defence.
In three seasons Walters has turned the Broncos from a team prone to blowout losses and turnstile defending to a staunch wall of committed players who are working hard for the men inside and outside them.
Of all Walters’ accomplishments and the improvements the Broncos have made since he took over, that is by far the most important.
As the old adage goes, defence wins premierships and with their new reliable and consistent defensive strategy led by Capewell, Patrick Carrigan and Payne Haas up front and Reynolds, Kotoni Staggs and Farnworth on the edges, the Broncos can dream of a premiership once again.
Broncos legend Corey Parker believes the team’s improved defence has been the catalyst for their undefeated start to the 2023 season.
“There has been one main reason that sticks out, which is over the off-season the Broncos had to identify where things went wrong last year,” Parker said on NRL Tonight.
“Six weeks to go last year they were sitting in fourth position, but did not play finals.
“That was due to their lack or inability to stay in the fight for long periods of time.
“To do that you need to concentrate on the finer details of rugby league, that being defence.
“Over the summer they had to take their medicine as said by Kevvie already, and really get their head around how they were going to defend coming into this season.
“There has been a real notable change particularly with their goal line defence. They have got a real aggressive rush style defence at the moment.
“That has been the biggest point of difference for mine. The finer details and the things they didn’t value as much last year has been priority number one for the first five weeks and they haven’t dropped a game.
“You go back to their 13-12 victory over the Panthers in Round 1 and it was built on defensive resolve and they have been able to build off that over the last four weeks.
“Scoring points for the Broncos has never been an issue and it will never be an issue moving forward. They have just got far too much talent right across the park.
“But being unable to stay in the fight has certainly been an issue, which is why they fell away so badly last year. That’s been the biggest difference this year.”
Walters has put last year’s issues out of his mind and is focused on the improvements his team have made, particularly in defence.
“It is not really in the back of my mind (last year), we worked really hard in the pre-season on a lot of areas in our game, particularly defence,” Walters said.
“That has been the most impressive thing from my perspective coaching the side is just how much we have improved with our defence.
“That is an attitude thing more than anything else.
“The other thing I like about this group is just their maturity. We are a young side still with our forwards.
“Patrick Carrigan, Payne Haas, Tom Flegler these guys are still very young, 23, 24 years of age so the upside to us is what excites me more than anything else.
“In footy you have got to learn how to do things. The NRL is a tough environment and you get found out if you are not aiming up every week.
“We learnt a lot of those lessons last year. Certainly the players did and also the coaching staff about our maturity as a group and as a team and we are getting the rewards from that right now.
“It is a good little journey we are on at the moment and I expect it to continue for a few weeks yet.”
So too Broncos fans who are dreaming of partying like it is 2006 once again.
