Tyson Gamble apologises to Kevin Walters for podcast comments, Gorden Tallis criticises Brisbane Broncos players
Departing Brisbane playmaker Tyson Gamble has insisted his controversial comments about coach Kevin Walters on a podcast last week did not distract the side ahead of the Broncos’ final-round loss to the Dragons.
The curtain closed on the Broncos’ 2022 campaign as they capitulated during their must-win clash with the Dragons on Saturday, leaving them outside the top eight after a horrific late-season slide.
Gamble said he’d apologised to Walters for saying the playing group turned to veteran halfback Adam Reynolds, not the coach, regarding the team’s attack.
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“I was just trying to give Reyno a compliment and obviously worded it extremely poorly,”
he told 9News Queensland.
“I apologised to Kev. I told him I didn’t mean it.
“I don’t think it was a distraction.”
Gamble will leave Brisbane after signing a two-year deal with Newcastle from 2023.
Appearing on the Marshie’s Corner podcast last month, Gamble spoke candidly about the coaching dynamics at the Broncos, revealing halves partner Reynolds was the real “mastermind” behind Brisbane’s attack.
However, several players have since backed Walters as the right man to lead the club in 2023, with Reynolds conceding Gamble’s comments were “a bit out of line”.
“Kev is a great coach and we can’t blame the coaching for a lot of what happened the last six games,” Broncos forward Kurt Capewell said.
Brisbane legend Gorden Tallis, a close friend of Walters, is livid at the saga, and blasted any suggestion the coach should be sacked.
“If they move Kevvie on the club will turn into the Wests Tigers. It’s as simple as that,” he told Triple M.
“They’ve had Wayne (Bennett), they’ve had (Anthony) Seibold … if our club keeps getting rid of its coach … you don’t want to be a club that keeps moving their coaches on, because then the players have the pull.
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“At some stage in our game the coach has to make some mistakes and the players have to live with it. He’s the boss.
“He’s your boss, whatever he says you go out there and do. It’s not the game plan, it’s your effort that loses games. What Brisbane have been beaten on in the last month, it’s not the game plan.”
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