Rugby league guru Phil Gould expects 2021 to be a huge test for the Broncos' master plan with Kevin Walters set to ride solo for a year before the expected arrival of the club's potential saviour Craig Bellamy.
Bellamy is yet to sign with the Broncos and has recently shot down reports suggesting he had agreed to a position there for 2022 and beyond but the widely accepted view is that he is Red Hill-bound when his Storm contract expires at the end of next season.
It has been reported that the Bellamy piece of the puzzle designed by the Broncos board was so crucial it swung them away from hiring premiership coach Paul Green and ultimately led to the signing of Walters.
However, with the legendary former Broncos player now on board the reality of another full season with a rookie NRL coach calling the shots could bite.
Walters has hired experienced assistant coach John Cartwright to help guide the transition but the former Titans head coach doesn't arrive with a CV or gravitas that Bellamy and few others carries.
So if the Broncos were not convinced Walters was their man without a highly respected figure sitting above him in the football department what will next season bring?
Speaking on Wide World of Sports' Six Tackles with Gus podcast Gould alluded to the potential for problems when the honeymoon period wears off.
"It's a big ask for Kevin, I can't stress that enough," Gould said.
"I'm cheering for him, Kevin's a great bloke, great footballer, he was a great competitor, wonderful.
"He's always had this ambition to be a head coach, particularly at the Broncos, this is his dream job, he'll give it 110 percent, he will have a groundswell of support from all the past players who have sort of felt disenfranchised from what the current Broncos look like and hopefully from those within the organisation.
"It's not going to be easy, this will be very very difficult. It's not just a matter of running out onto the training paddock and shouting a few plays and telling them to link arms and say 'Hey, we're all going to do this for each other,' that's not going to get it done.
"There's a whole range of issues at the Broncos that they're going to need to become aware of and hence I think why Craig Bellamy is being brought in."
Gould added that while Walters would unite the disenfranchised Broncos old boys and get Brisbane as a city back behind the Broncos he said it was dangerous to make a link with the past the key to future success.
The Queensland coach is a beloved figure in Brisbane and will undoubtedly provide a huge boost to morale but Gould said the NRL had evolved so far beyond what it was like when the Broncos were last a true powerhouse that it was fraught with danger to try to bring back what made those teams successful.
"If they were trying to recapture their DNA of the past then we can all understand why Kevin Walters has got the job. It's whether or not Kevin Walters can provide the new Broncos," Gould said.
"I don't know if you necessarily go back and recreate what you had, the Broncos as an organisation has got to go out and work out, well from now on what's it want to be? In three years, five years, 10 years, 20 years down the track what does the Broncos look like?
"And whether Kevin Walters was the man to do that or whether they're thinking 'We need to get back to where we were 15 or 20 years ago, Kevin Walters is the answer' – it's an interesting question."
Gould isn't the only NRL pundit to question the Walters part of the Broncos' package deal but the Bellamy component has universal support, but for in Victoria where the Storm are seemingly paying for having built a club that is the envy of the competition.
Gould said it made sense for the Broncos to go after Bellamy and Storm CEO Dave Donaghy but added that it put their choices over the last decade in an unflattering light.
"I don't think I can blame them for the road they've taken at this time but it just confirms what we all saw a few years ago, that things were going along the wrong track," Gould said.
In fact the Bellamy appointment would be "one of the most important signings in Broncos history," according to rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns, who likened it to when Manchester United had legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
"This is a system Man United used for a long time, Alex Ferguson was the manager or the coach but the players wouldn't see him hardly," Johns told Wide World of Sports' Freddy and The Eighth.
"He'd oversee everything and he'd have his foot soldiers (assistant coaches) out on the field. But they said every now and then Sir Alex would come down on the field and they'd all go *gasp* we'd better all aim up at training this week.
"So I think it's perfect, absolutely perfect, and probably one of the most important signings in Broncos history. They've gone that far down they need Craig Bellamy."
NSW coach Brad Fittler, who has coached against Walters at Origin level for the last two years, agreed saying the first-time club coach wasn't equipped to build the structures a club side needs for sustained success.
"Yeah, (Bellamy's) had some great players and he's had some really influential people but it's impossible to deny that he's made some ordinary players into some much better players," Fittler told Wide World of Sports' Freddy and The Eighth.
"He has this ability to just make players better. It's through his systems, it's through his discipline, his systems and what he does with his coaches, what he makes his team accountable for and all those things and around flair.
"So in and around talent he just sets them up with these foundations and Kevvy wouldn't know anything about them because they take years and years to learn and it would complement him unbelievably."
Rugby league guru Phil Gould expects 2021 to be a huge test for the Broncos' master plan with Kevin Walters set to ride solo for a year before the expected arrival of the club's potential saviour Craig Bellamy.
Bellamy is yet to sign with the Broncos and has recently shot down reports suggesting he had agreed to a position there for 2022 and beyond but the widely accepted view is that he is Red Hill-bound when his Storm contract expires at the end of next season.
It has been reported that the Bellamy piece of the puzzle designed by the Broncos board was so crucial it swung them away from hiring premiership coach Paul Green and ultimately led to the signing of Walters.
However, with the legendary former Broncos player now on board the reality of another full season with a rookie NRL coach calling the shots could bite.
Walters has hired experienced assistant coach John Cartwright to help guide the transition but the former Titans head coach doesn't arrive with a CV or gravitas that Bellamy and few others carries.
So if the Broncos were not convinced Walters was their man without a highly respected figure sitting above him in the football department what will next season bring?
Speaking on Wide World of Sports' Six Tackles with Gus podcast Gould alluded to the potential for problems when the honeymoon period wears off.
"It's a big ask for Kevin, I can't stress that enough," Gould said.
"I'm cheering for him, Kevin's a great bloke, great footballer, he was a great competitor, wonderful.
"He's always had this ambition to be a head coach, particularly at the Broncos, this is his dream job, he'll give it 110 percent, he will have a groundswell of support from all the past players who have sort of felt disenfranchised from what the current Broncos look like and hopefully from those within the organisation.
"It's not going to be easy, this will be very very difficult. It's not just a matter of running out onto the training paddock and shouting a few plays and telling them to link arms and say 'Hey, we're all going to do this for each other,' that's not going to get it done.
"There's a whole range of issues at the Broncos that they're going to need to become aware of and hence I think why Craig Bellamy is being brought in."
Gould added that while Walters would unite the disenfranchised Broncos old boys and get Brisbane as a city back behind the Broncos he said it was dangerous to make a link with the past the key to future success.
The Queensland coach is a beloved figure in Brisbane and will undoubtedly provide a huge boost to morale but Gould said the NRL had evolved so far beyond what it was like when the Broncos were last a true powerhouse that it was fraught with danger to try to bring back what made those teams successful.
"If they were trying to recapture their DNA of the past then we can all understand why Kevin Walters has got the job. It's whether or not Kevin Walters can provide the new Broncos," Gould said.
"I don't know if you necessarily go back and recreate what you had, the Broncos as an organisation has got to go out and work out, well from now on what's it want to be? In three years, five years, 10 years, 20 years down the track what does the Broncos look like?
"And whether Kevin Walters was the man to do that or whether they're thinking 'We need to get back to where we were 15 or 20 years ago, Kevin Walters is the answer' – it's an interesting question."
Gould isn't the only NRL pundit to question the Walters part of the Broncos' package deal but the Bellamy component has universal support, but for in Victoria where the Storm are seemingly paying for having built a club that is the envy of the competition.
Gould said it made sense for the Broncos to go after Bellamy and Storm CEO Dave Donaghy but added that it put their choices over the last decade in an unflattering light.
"I don't think I can blame them for the road they've taken at this time but it just confirms what we all saw a few years ago, that things were going along the wrong track," Gould said.
In fact the Bellamy appointment would be "one of the most important signings in Broncos history," according to rugby league Immortal Andrew Johns, who likened it to when Manchester United had legendary manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
"This is a system Man United used for a long time, Alex Ferguson was the manager or the coach but the players wouldn't see him hardly," Johns told Wide World of Sports' Freddy and The Eighth.
"He'd oversee everything and he'd have his foot soldiers (assistant coaches) out on the field. But they said every now and then Sir Alex would come down on the field and they'd all go *gasp* we'd better all aim up at training this week.
"So I think it's perfect, absolutely perfect, and probably one of the most important signings in Broncos history. They've gone that far down they need Craig Bellamy."
NSW coach Brad Fittler, who has coached against Walters at Origin level for the last two years, agreed saying the first-time club coach wasn't equipped to build the structures a club side needs for sustained success.
"Yeah, (Bellamy's) had some great players and he's had some really influential people but it's impossible to deny that he's made some ordinary players into some much better players," Fittler told Wide World of Sports' Freddy and The Eighth.
"He has this ability to just make players better. It's through his systems, it's through his discipline, his systems and what he does with his coaches, what he makes his team accountable for and all those things and around flair.
"So in and around talent he just sets them up with these foundations and Kevvy wouldn't know anything about them because they take years and years to learn and it would complement him unbelievably."
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