Kevvie is yet to rewatch the Grand Final:
“I’ve seen a few of the players and caught up with a lot of them. They’re disappointed but also very mindful there’s a lot of improvement in us as a group and them as individuals. From all the evidence we’ve seen so far, they’re keen and hungry. They are ready for another good crack at next season. I’m refreshed and ready to go. There’s a good vibe around the place and the boys are going hard.”
“There was a bit of disbelief after the game. The grand final had been played, run and lost the way it was. There was some reflection first more than anything. The first couple of weeks after the grand final were funny. I haven’t watched it yet, but I plan to sit down with the players and have a look at it in the New Year."
“Things happen for a reason a lot of the time. To Penrith’s credit, they’ve been a good side for a long time and played really well in that last 15 minutes while we were a bit off. We made a couple of little errors and a few things didn’t go our way. That’s all it is. There’s never much in it. We only lost by two points. We scored the same number of tries and conversions, it was just a penalty goal that beat us."
“When you think about the season we had, it makes you a bit happier and understanding of why things happen sometimes. I’m generally really happy with everything we’re doing at the moment. We would have liked a better result in the grand final, but if 12 months ago you said to me ‘that’s your season’ I would have taken it every day of the week.”
“I had a good bit of time with Tottenham coach Ange Postecoglou, he was very generous with his time. I met Ange when I was in Melbourne at the Storm and he was coaching the Victory (A-League club). He is a really nice fella. I used to watch the Victory train and knew he’d be a very successful coach no matter what league he was in because his methods have worked everywhere he’s been. He’s stuck to his principles, which is something I really admire. He was heavily criticised early by fans and the media saying he wasn’t up to it, but he had great belief in himself and his methods. I’ll take a lot out of that – believing in what you’re doing and sticking to your principles. It reinforced not only what I’m doing but all of the coaches and our team at the Broncos. We’re on the right pathway and we’ve got great stability in the club now with our coaches and roster.”
“We’ve lost a couple of players we didn’t want to lose but we’ve got good depth in those positions which gives us a great opportunity to replace them with talent from our academy. It was a good season for us and we made so many big strides as a club and individuals to put us in a good position for next year. We’ve had some time to compensate for the first three leaving in Keenan, ‘Fleg’ and Herbie, we knew about them for a while. We had a good look at that and felt we could handle the loss of those three players."
“Fletcher Baker looks like a really good signing. He is a good, mature kid who’s working really hard and fitting in nicely.”
“Maybe there is more expectation this season, but my expectations have always been the same at the Broncos. I’d like to think our team lines up every year as a genuine premiership threat. We want to make the grand final and win the thing. My opinion hasn’t changed on that for next year. This time last year there was a lot of noise around the Broncos and a bit of uncertainty, and rightly so after the way we finished the year before, losing five of last six games to miss finals."
“But there’s a different tone to the Broncos now when people talk about our club. It’s up to us to adjust our mentality around all of that. We’re not a team that’s down the bottom anymore. We are up and about and need to stay there. I’m really excited.”
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