Tensions are running high at Red Hill, with several Brisbane Broncos players reportedly fuming over being blamed for the sacking of former coach Kevin Walters.
The fallout from Walters' October axing continues to ripple through the club, with growing unrest in the dressing room over how the decision was framed publicly.
While the club sold the narrative that the move came after a player review, former Broncos captain Gorden Tallis has slammed that explanation, saying senior management failed to take responsibility and threw the playing group under the bus.
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“That was reverse engineered. The club didn’t want to make the decision and the players are dirty about that,” Tallis said on NRL 360. “The players that I’ve spoken to are dirty, that they got blamed for it. The club should have come out and owned that decision, they shouldn’t have put that on the players.”
No meeting, no review, just fallout
Tallis went on to reveal there wasn’t even a formal meeting between players and club officials, let alone any confrontation with Walters.
“That was unfair to put that on the players. There was no meeting, they weren’t sitting around, they weren’t face to face. And that’s the coach’s job,” he said.
The criticism comes just days after Broncos icon Allan Langer issued a rare public rebuke, pointing to a lack of unity in the side. “They are lacking team spirit at the moment,” Langer told The Courier Mail.
“The senior players have to get the group together and work out what is going wrong.”
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Current coach Michael Maguire is also under the microscope, with reports of overtraining and growing mental fatigue within the squad.
“Watching the Broncos play in Brisbane on Sunday, there were stages of the game where they genuinely did look quite fatigued,” said Fox League’s James Hooper. “There is a lot of noise coming out of the Broncos at the moment, and there is a lot of unrest among the playing group.”
The mood in the camp appears grim, with players accused of going through the motions. “Brisbane, it’s like it’s a chore for them at the moment, it’s like everything they do has a price on it,” Tallis added.