3 minute read

The stability of Brisbane's spine while Kevin Walters was playing, compared to now as the NRL team's coach, reveals just how unsettled the Broncos are.

It's taken just 31 games as Brisbane coach for Kevin Walters to tally the same amount of spine combinations that he experienced in more than four years as a Broncos player.

In an alarming reflection of the NRL side's inconsistency, they will field a 15th different spine since Walters' arrival last year in Friday's clash with Canterbury.

Walters has changed his halves duo alone almost as many times, using 11 different combinations since his NRL coaching debut in the first round of last season.

Tyson Gamble was part of the most-settled halves combination last year, playing five consecutive games alongside the now-departed Brodie Croft.

But he has had to wait until round seven to wear the No.6 again, set to partner Adam Reynolds against the Bulldogs.

Te Maire Martin, out of early retirement caused by a brain bleed, will play his first NRL game in more than 1000 days in the less familiar position of fullback while Cory Paix has assumed hooking duties.

Compare that to Walters' playing days, when he arrived from Canberra and played all but one game of the 1990 season alongside famous sidekick Allan Langer.

Only eight times in his first three seasons at the Broncos was Walters not in the halves with Langer, that run culminating in the first of Walters' five Brisbane premierships in 1992.

And it took until round eight of 1994, in Walters' fifth season at Red Hill, for the Broncos to field a 15th different spine combination.

In terms of halves, the situation is even more stark.

The Broncos used just 11 combinations in Walters' first 10 years at the club as a player.

As a coach, he has cycled through just as many in one-and-a-bit seasons.

At 2-4 this year and Walters' coaching record a dire 30 per cent (nine of 30) overall - the worst of any full-time Broncos coach - he knows better than most that a lack of continuity is hurting them.

"I'd probably cut my left arm off," Walters said when asked what he'd be willing to do for a consistent spine combination.

"It's all about trying to get some combinations ... but injuries have played their part, and COVID in the first round (ruled out Reynolds and fullback Tesi Niu).

"A lot of it's been out of our control."

Some of it has been in his control though, with Walters happy to release the in-form Tom Dearden to North Queensland early last year and then the untried Reece Walsh to the Warriors, where he debuted and now stars at both fullback or in the halves.

Unfancied fullback Jamayne Isaako was also granted a release this season, while Karmichael Hunt was even deployed twice in 2021 and Walters couldn't unshackle either Croft or Anthony Milford before they departed.

Captain Reynolds has spent time alongside the injured Albert Kelly and Walters' son Billy in the halves this season, the coach now returning to firebrand option Gamble.

And Martin, who has played a grand final in the halves for the Cowboys, now has a chance to entrench himself in a spine that's yearning for stability.

"I'm confident we can build some momentum with the same 17 on the field," Walters said.

"So let's hope this week is the week.

"I'd like to settle on things ... they just need to play well and everything will look after itself."