Kevin Walters' former teammate makes bombshell claim about exit as Brisbane Broncos coach

Broncos great Shane Webcke has rubbished Brisbane's claims that the decision for Kevin Walters to leave the club was mutual, stating he would have wanted the chance to turn things around. On Thursday night the Broncos announced Walters had 'stepped down' as Broncos coach on the back of findings from an independent review commissioned by the club after a massive fall from grace in 2024 where the club finished 12th and missed the finals on the back of making the grand final the year prior.

Announcing his departure on Thursday, the Broncos said in a statement that the season had taken a heavy toll on Walters and his family, resulting in the coach and club deciding it was best to go their separate ways. But The Courier Mail’s Peter Badel says the Broncos coach had little say in the matter and that the club decided to sack him as a result of his team underperforming and on the back of a brutal post-season review. "The review of Kevvie wasn’t very favourable and there were some major concerns around some of the standards at the club — a real decline in certain areas," he told SEN.

"And it’s hard to sack 15-20 players but it's easier to sack one person and unfortunately Kevvie is the collateral damage here. He’s the fall guy... I feel a touch of sadness for Kevvie ... it’s a brutal decision. It’s an understandable one in many degrees, but they’ve made a pretty swift and proactive call."

Walters' departure comes after CEO Dave Donaghy had guaranteed his future as coach earlier this month - but that was prior to the independent review. "We owe a debt of gratitude to Kevin, for the enormous role he's played as head coach over the past four years," Donaghy said in a statement on Thursday night.

"Kevin put his heart and soul into the club during his time as coach. He is one of the most passionate people you will ever meet when it comes to the Broncos, and that helped lift us out of a really difficult time. While we will miss Kev and his infectious personality on a daily basis, we certainly don't want one of the Broncos' favourite sons not to stay involved with our great club."

The club insists they and Walters had come to a mutual agreement but Webcke slapped down those claims stating he knows Walters well and while the last season would have undoubtedly been tough for him and his family, that wouldn't have made him want to step away. "I promise you that (he wouldn't have walked away),” Webcke said on SENQ’s Breakfast with Pat and Heals.

"But what I’m saying is, Kevvie’s known that the whole time he's been a coach, so that’s not something that’s come up yesterday and it does smell like now they’re trying to sort of put nice, pretty wallpaper over it and call it something that it’s not (him walking away for family reasons). I see that as a terrible weakness as well.

"If you're going to make a tough call, call it what it is. Don’t try and turn it into something that’s not. And that, I think, is a mistake as well, if that is, in fact, the case. If they’re going to come out today and say, ‘This was a mutual thing, we’re all happy’, well, you’re going to have a fairly difficult time convincing people of that."

Shane Webcke questions timing of call to sack Kevin Walters

Despite flagging that he is somewhat biased as he is a good friend of Walters, Webcke - who played 254 games for the Broncos - said he would have supported the club's decision to axe the 56-year-old if they had given him a chance to turn things around next year. "If I look at it and stand back as a bloke who loves the Broncos... I think, well, when did it become our way to do things like this (sacking a coach after one bad year)?" Webcke said.

"If Kevvie has another year on his contract, let’s look at what he’s done. We went from being wooden spooners to a second away from winning the Grand Final. None of us are happy with the season just gone, particularly Kevvie. But I think the smartest thing to do would have been, and the right thing to do would have been to let Kevvie coach next year. Because likely it’s this year that’s the wake-up call that we needed. We’ve got a good, strong club again, a wonderful roster full of great players.

"... And the other thing I always think, ‘Well, if you’re going to make a decision like this, make it because you’re going to someone better’. Well, who’s better? Who’s available right now who is going to be a better fit than Kevvie Walters? I don’t know."

Shane Webcke urges Broncos not to bring in Michael Maguire

The Broncos' swift axing of their coach would suggest his replacement is already lined up. Badel suggested Blues coach Michael Maguire is possibly the most likely to get the job, although there are other alternatives such as Jason Demetriou, Brad Arthur and Josh Hannay. But Webcke believes bringing Maguire in would be somewhat of a slap in the face for Queenslanders and wants to see a Queenslander get the nod.

"Mate, he (Michael Maguire) coaches NSW. Spare me that," Webcke said. "I’ve got nothing against him, but did we get rid of Kevvie Walters for that? I don’t think so.”

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Webcke went on to add that he "doesn’t see any sense" in the decision to part ways with Walters at the current time, insisting the fans as a whole wanted to see Walters given another chance at least for the start of next season and there is no obvious replacement for him. "Instead, what they’ve done is sack him now, like it feels like it’s out of the blue, and created a maelstrom of drama and stuff that’s going to get talked about for weeks now, and put the whole place under pressure again," Webcke said.

"... There’s nothing logical about this, it just doesn’t make any sense... Kevvie more than anyone understands that his job is about performance, right? And he knows he’s under pressure, but no one can reasonably look at his performance and the tenure of his coaching at the Broncos and say that this is justifiable, because it’s not."