Problem with Reece Walsh's $6m contract as Broncos insider calls out 'biggest mistake ever'
Brisbane's founding director and chairman has broken ranks to speak out about the issues at the club.
The Brisbane Broncos' founding director and chairman has highlighted how the club has paid too much for young players 'based on potential', however the situation is only going to get worse due to Reece Walsh's new $6 million contract. The Broncos suffered their biggest fall from grace in club history in 2024, going from grand finalists to 12th on the ladder.
The post mortem is well underway about what went wrong, and chairman Barry Maranta reckons the current team doesn't have enough hard-nosed forwards. The great Broncos teams of the past have boasted hitmen such as Tonie Carroll, Peter Ryan and Trevor Gillmeister and "hard heads" like Glenn Lazarus, Shane Webcke, Gorden Tallis and Brad Thorn.
The 2024 team lost Tom Flegler and Kurt Capewell to the Dolphins and Warriors respectively, and replaced them with the likes of Jayden Hunt and Fletcher Baker. The Broncos' forward pack was a shadow of the one that helped them reach the grand final in 2023, with second rowers Jordan Riki and Brendan Piakura very underwhelming.
However the club's hierarchy had their hands tied to an extent due to the big recent contracts handed out to Payne Haas, Ezra Mam and Patrick Carrigan. "I suspect the problem is that we have overpaid young guys. You can't win with 20 and 21-year-old's against 28 and 29-year-old's," Maranta told AAP on Sunday.
"The angle that we have taken is that we have paid for potential. I have owned two teams (the Broncos and London Broncos) and I know there is a temptation to do it but it appears as though we didn't have the money for any hard heads. I am hoping to have a coffee with the (hierarchy) and find out where we are going to get our hard heads from. You don't pay for potential. You pay for CVs and scrapbooks."
Losing Herbie Farnworth 'biggest mistake Broncos ever made'
The Broncos have a raft of young forwards such as Ben Te Kura (20), Piakura (22), Riki (24) and Xavier Willison (22). Test forwards Haas and Carrigan play big minutes and lead the pack, but the Broncos need to rebuild around them.
"They do a lot of work but they don't intimidate," Maranta said. "Capewell is a hard head. All teams need them. We brought Lazarus up. We can learn from Wayne Bennett and the way he hand-picked his squad.
"If ever you want to look at a classic case of putting a team together look at what Wayne has done at the Dolphins with his forward pack. They have got s*** in them like Felise Kaufusi. There are hard heads like the Bromwich brothers (Kenny and Jesse).
"Remember the media said he couldn't buy this player or that player but he put a forward pack together with hard heads. Then he got the Hammer (Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow) and Herbie Farnworth. Letting Herbie go (from the Broncos) was the biggest mistake we ever made but Wayne had a bag of money."
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Situation will only worsen with Reece Walsh's $6m contract
The fact the Broncos have paid up big on their young stars means the money on offer at the Dolphins was too much for Farnworth to resist. And with Walsh expected to re-sign on a new $6 million deal in the coming weeks, the club might be forced to part ways with more players.
Koby Hetherington has already been told he can negotiate with rival clubs, while coach Kevin Walters has conceded Kotoni Staggs and Selwyn Cobbo will have to take pay-cuts to stay. Considering how far the Broncos have fallen, the likes of Staggs and Cobbo might also be tempted to leave so they can be paid what they're worth.
with AAP
