OFFICIAL Kevin Walters Steps Down As Broncos Coach

[Kaz]

I sure hope Billy stays on. The best thing madge can do when he gets here is honor kev and his achievements. I don't think the Billy haters can name a better utility at the club that can come on and play hooker or half at any given moment. Particularly when our halfback is made of glass.

The fans in here should show some respect to Kev as well. He has called for the fans to stand by the club which took guts and humility. Regardless of his shortcomings as a coach he evidently loves the Broncos more than himself and does not want to see the club abandoned.

No need to stick the boot in now that he's gone. It's over let's move onwards and upwards.

Thanks for posting Billy.

 

[Manofoneway]

Thanks for posting Billy.

No worries Karen.

 

[heartly87]

You always go too far the other way when you replace a coach- Micky Arthar made them do homework, Lehmann replaced him and let everyone have a relaxed approach and they went well loose, Langer went back to intense and now McDonald is sleepy again.

Seibold killed everyone with data and homework, Kev was a relaxed casual approach to correct the mood.

Yeah it's definitely a risk of occurring here. My personal hope is Madge has learnt a thing or two about his shortcoming in the past. Hopefully if he does become the coach that this is exactly what we get, a new improved Madge capable of something special. If not we could end up in a very bad way, with a not so desirable club to come and play for.

 

[heartly87]

I'm with you, but what surprised me is the fallout happened before Vegas. We were shithouse from Round One and never convinced even once all season, even when the ladder flattered us.

Something was off, but I do recall I was really behind him early this year. He was good post game early and seemed to be making some right calls. But then it started to spiral and it became obvious that Kev couldn't stay on track and reverted back to his worst traits. He really burnt Patty to the ground this year, because he didn't believe in his men, or couldn't get them up to the level required. Either way it's unacceptable to flog a guy like that without a rest week in week out.

 

[Xzei]

Going to be a long off season

 

[McHunt]

Smoothy could fill in, in a pinch. Doesn’t really matter, just make Mam and Walsh take over. Most teams don’t have a half on the bench.

Sad truth is we don't have the utilities we need. In the past couple of years that's thrown our entire bench out of whack, not least because it seemed the first priority was to accommodate 20 minute Billy.

Moving on from that albatross, Mozer is now the key. He has the dummy half role down in spades. He'll be a massive boost for us in attack. He must start.

But he's not without his own issues, and they will need to be resolved in the preseason or we're in a different kind of shit. His defence is substandard for a hooker, and either he's not fit enough or he's a bit lazy. That won't cut it.

If Madge can beat him into shape, and he can deliver us 60 minutes, and occasionally 80 if needed, we're on the right track.

As for the right 14, that might depend who we're playing. If we're facing a fit, attacking team like the Storm, we'll need watertight defence. If we're getting on a roll and want to rack up the points, we'll need a slippery spark who can inject some unpredictability ball in hand.

Neither Walters nor Smoothy offer much spark, and Paix, I can't even remember what he looks like. If we're still stuck with Madden and Rogers, maybe one of them might be more versatile. I don't hate the idea of Madden coming on with 15 to go rather than Billy. But surely we can do better.

If it's primarily defence we need, maybe Smoothy, but he's not much use covering a half. Billy might have the upper hand there.

 

[Bronco bob]

I think it was best for us to get rid of Kevvie, it was pretty clear he lacked the coaching ability we needed. However, I am of the firm belief that losing Capewell was a much bigger factor than people are giving it credit. I heard it from multiple people and saw it first hand that he set and drove the standards at training. With him gone, and Kevvies inability to drive standards and needing the senior players to help coach the team, those standards clearly dropped. I think Madge will be great for us as he will be much more strict on standards but I also hope that his first act as coach is to bring in more experience and someone that will drive higher standards because that is what these flashy kids need. We have enough attack weapons that this person doesn't need to be flashy, someone like Welch would be perfect I think. All he needs to do is make his tackles and hold the kids accountable.

 

[McHunt]

I think it was best for us to get rid of Kevvie, it was pretty clear he lacked the coaching ability we needed. However, I am of the firm belief that losing Capewell was a much bigger factor than people are giving it credit. I heard it from multiple people and saw it first hand that he set and drove the standards at training. With him gone, and Kevvies inability to drive standards and needing the senior players to help coach the team, those standards clearly dropped. I think Madge will be great for us as he will be much more strict on standards but I also hope that his first act as coach is to bring in more experience and someone that will drive higher standards because that is what these flashy kids need. We have enough attack weapons that this person doesn't need to be flashy, someone like Welch would be perfect I think. All he needs to do is make his tackles and hold the kids accountable.

I don't think he'll have much of a kitty to splash out on talent. Not unless we can offload some chaff.

 

[BroncosFever]

Imagine if the new coach decides Billy is the best option we have.

 

[Bronco bob]

I don't think he'll have much of a kitty to splash out on talent. Not unless we can offload some chaff.

Yeah, hopefully we can find people to offload. Wasn't there talk that Baker was wanting to go back to Sydney? Also, Hetherington has been told he can look elsewhere right, so hopefully that will be enough to get Welsh and a minimum wager to replace those two.

 

[Jason Simmons]

We can't name a better utility because we never bought one while he was here and fired anyone that came close to him and was ready.

Like Max Plath…

 

[Howie]

Out of interest, what is the site's highest traffic ever?

My guesses would be:
- 2023 GF post full time
- spoon confirmation
- Seibold sacking

If you're thinking of post count, a crawl of the BHQ site (basically downloading and parsing page HTML dumps) turned up the highest threads (approximate post count over 2k, page count, start date and thread title):

>6k 384 Apr 3, 2021 kevin walters
>4k 225 Aug 24, 2012 sack griffin new coach discussion
>4k 217 Sep 11, 2018 2019 broncos line up
>4k 202 Jul 27, 2013 official anthony milford to broncos
>3k 182 Feb 14, 2017 2018 nrl side
>3k 166 Mar 13, 2013 the wayne bennett super thread
>2k 97 May 27, 2022 payne haas
>2k 93 Aug 24, 2020 next broncos coach
>2k 86 Mar 8, 2014 broncos 2015 discussion
>2k 86 Jul 10, 2010 greg inglis signing thread
>2k 85 Jun 27, 2020 anthony seibold discussion
>2k 84 Feb 3, 2012 player movements and rumours 2012
>2k 138 Apr 13, 2013 official barba to broncos
>2k 128 Oct 26, 2009 player movements rumours 2010
>2k 127 Nov 27, 2013 official milford signs with broncos
>2k 123 Jan 20, 2017 our new halfback should be
>2k 111 May 26, 2022 payne haas retracts immediate release from broncos then
>2k 108 Oct 1, 2023 2024 pre season discussion pre season premiers
>2k 108 Jul 25, 2020 where to from here lets plan for 2021 er 2025
>2k 102 Sep 17, 2016 2017 line up

(exact post counts take rather longer to get).

As you can see, far and away the dominant topic was KW's tenure; the 2023 GF "only" went for over 1k posts. Bringing up the initial post of this thread (by theshed), pretty much indicates the same arguments were circulating then as they would still be over three years later:

I’m definitely not saying Kev should be on the chopping block yet, this was always going to take time and a lot of things are out of his control. But I have not been impressed with many of the things that are in his control. I want Kev to succeed as much as anyone, from a team perspective and because I like the guy, but early signs of not being up to the task are showing in my opinion. Maybe he will find his feet but I think he needs help and I think the club should throw barrels of cash at Bellamy or Bennett to come on in some form.

... and then concluded:

I hope Kev learns from all this and gets the hang of NRL coaching. Being successful under Kev would be a fairytale but I see a coach who is already out of his depth.

 

[ningnangnong]

Haha the Greg Inglis thread, what a trip that was.

 

[Pigskin]

Welsh is past it, would cost too much for what he brings and is injury prone. The Storm would be ecstatic if we took him off their hands. Hopefully we lose some marshmallows like Cobbo who can't stand the thought of Madge and frees up some dollars.

As I said previously, I'd like to target Daniel Atkinson either to play halves or be our utility. As for a veteran forward leader, I think Carrigan is already that guy.

Mozer is pretty much ready, but his defense is suspect. I think he'd be better playing the last 60 mins of each game for now. Keep him out of the early fire.

Oink!

 

[nopatience101]

Yeah it's definitely a risk of occurring here. My personal hope is Madge has learnt a thing or two about his shortcoming in the past. Hopefully if he does become the coach that this is exactly what we get, a new improved Madge capable of something special. If not we could end up in a very bad way, with a not so desirable club to come and play for.

He has been coaching for 2 decades and has had success across multiple teams at all levels. You can’t fluke that, he’s got more than one string to his bow, he obviously knows what it takes to be successful because he’s done it. Something that can’t be said of every other coach we have had outside of Wayne.

 

[nopatience101]

Welsh is past it, would cost too much for what he brings and is injury prone. The Storm would be ecstatic if we took him off their hands.

Melbourne are trying to sell a lemon and I hope we are smart enough to realise.

 

[FACTHUNT]

Haha the Greg Inglis thread, what a trip that was.

I remember reading it from my dorm room at uni haha. Wish I joined then

 

[McHunt]

Imagine if the new coach decides Billy is the best option we have.

Holy imagine. And will you take it personally when he doesn't?