Broncos captain Adam Reynolds has responded to criticism from club legend Gorden Tallis, who took aim at the Brisbane No.7 for failing to stand up for besieged coach Kevvie Walters.
Tallis pointed the finger at Reynolds, accusing the Broncos captain of abandoning Walters amid the club’s 2024 finals fade-out.
However, Reynolds took issue with Tallis’ comments, while careful not to engage in a public slanging match with the premiership winning former skipper of the club.
“It’s his opinion. He’s entitled to his opinion,” Reynolds told NCA Newswire.
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“I was on the radio this morning backing Kev. I will back Kev whenever I need to.
“Kev brought me here from down South and he’s given me a great opportunity to come to a great club and do something special.
“I love the place and I’m forever grateful for him doing that.
“Kev has done a fantastic job in leading this club and he’s the right man for the job. We just need to get on-board and follow the instructions from Kev.
“I have never seen anyone more passionate about the club and someone who loves the club and it has to rub off on the players.
“I don’t believe there’s another man for the job. Kev has had success as a player and coach and we believe in him. He’s definitely the right man for the job.”
The Broncos have gone from three tries up in a grand final loss to missing the top eight altogether following an embarrassing 40-6 capitulation in the Brisbane derby, that ended their 2024 season with a week to spare.
Speaking on Triple M, Tallis believes Reynolds should have been more vocal in his support of Walters after the coach backed his halfback and captain amid recent criticism of the team.
“I put pressure on Adam Reynolds,” Tallis told Triple M’s Sin Bin program.
“Kevvie came out and stood up for him (Reynolds).
“Now Kevvie has been under the pump and silence (from Reynolds) … crickets.
“It was just a test (of whether Reynolds had Walters’ back).
“Billy Walters said no to coming on this station and his captain (Reynolds) jumps straight in.
“If one of my players said no to come on to this (radio network), it’s one in, all in. That’s the problem.
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“I wouldn’t do it. He (Reynolds) can say no. You can say no.
“You have to be on the same page and you have to be one in, all in.”
Tallis believes Reynolds deserves criticism for starting Brisbane’s bid for premiership redemption in 2024 off on the wrong note and called on the players to take some responsibility for the team’s failed campaign.
Reynolds and teammate Patrick Carrigan were reprimanded after a drunken wrestling altercation on the eve of Round 1, which was a sour note to start the season.
“There was a push in the taxi ranks, there’s all that,” Tallis said.
“Everything has happened.
“If I’m playing in that game (on Saturday night against the Dolphins), I would have felt the pressure.
“It’s the players. And no Broncos player has come out and owned it.”
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Walters’ future as Broncos coach has been put under the microscope despite the fact he is signed until the end of the 2026 season, after the side’s stunning fall from grace in 2024.
However, Tallis believes conjecture over Walters’ future as Broncos coach is very far wide of the mark.
“That’s rubbish, he was three minutes away from winning a premiership, his job is not under the pump,” Tallis said.
“The whole place is and the players are. The players are the ones who own their performance.
“It’s just the players. They need some new faces at training and they need to harden up.
“When you talk to blokes who are super successful and at the great clubs, their highest paid, their captain, their best players are usually their best trainers.
“They have to take some ownership.”
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Tallis believes the problem with the Broncos in 2024 has been a lack of hunger and spirit amongst the playing ranks, rather than any deficiencies in the coaching set-up.
“I have been at footy clubs, the Broncos have had punch ups,” Tallis said.
“Wayne (Bennett, then Broncos coach) had to put on a fight night. He did. The first time I ever went on a trip away, we were over in Perth and there was a punch up at training. That’s how hard we went.
“You do all that and then we get on the same page.
“All I know is the sides I won with were the tightest group of guys there. It wasn’t talent. In 2000, we won because we were so tight and the team came first and your teammate was the most important in there and nothing that would separate us.
“Until the Broncos get it back … it’s hard work, it’s discipline, it’s friendships. Penrith seem to have it. It’s no miracle. It’s how hard they work and trust each other.
“That’s what happens in great teams. Wayne Bennett always used to say, ‘Winners have parties, losers have meetings’.
“Losers get into their small little groups and start digging at each other and until that stops … the Broncos players have to dig themselves out of it.”
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