Kevin Walters is confident he has not lost the dressing room at the Broncos and is so he can turn the team around that he believes they can win a premiership within three years.
Brisbane are running last on the Telstra Premiership ladder with a 3-12 record, conceding 482 points at more than 32 points per game in Walters’s first year at the helm since Anthony Seibold’s tenure came to an abrupt end late last season.
In an interview with Channel 9 on Sunday, Walters said he believes the club was making changes on and off the field that would translate into success and even claimed they could make this season’s playoffs.
Walters was defending his coaching style in the wake of a NewsCorp report which suggested players were upset with his methods, particularly his communication to them.
Broncos chairman Karl Morris has backed Walters to turn their fortunes around and the first-year coach said the external pressure "makes me more determined to make sure my role here is a successful one".
Every try from Round 15
"It's a tough gig coaching in the NRL, particularly here at the Broncos. There's no revolt,” he said.
"Communication is one of my great assets as a person and as a rugby league coach. It's one of the key assets. It's a group of people - the players, performance staff, Dave [Donaghy] ... we need the whole club involved. From the 2015 grand final moving forward this club has been on the slide."
He said he did not want to have to move on high-priced forwards Matt Lodge and Tevita Pangai jnr but the club needed to rein in its salary cap situation.
Pangai not the last casualty in Walters' restructure
"I get that's not easy for the players, but I go back to we need to make changes for the club to go forward and that's part of my role here," he said.
"We've got to have a change in mentality with how we prepare for games and our training habits, especially defensively."
Brisbane suffered a humiliating 46-0 loss to South Sydney, coached by former Broncos premiership-winning mentor Wayne Bennett, on Thursday night with halfback Adam Reynolds playing a starring role.
The veteran playmaker is Brisbane’s highest-profile recruit for 2022.
Walters rated Reynolds’ leadership and game management as "first class and that's what we're getting next year".
Recruitment chief Peter Nolan and head of performance Andrew Croll were informed on Friday by the club their tenures at Brisbane would be coming to an end as the football department undergoes structural changes.
Get Caught Up: Round 15 must-see moments
Broncos legend Sam Thaiday on The Sunday Footy Show said he felt for Walters.
"He's a proud Broncos man and he wants the Broncos to be the Broncos he that remembers," he said.
"Tough times for Kevvie and to be honest there's going to be tough times going forward."
Pangai candid about his future
Pangai, in an interview with Channel 9 after the loss to Souths, said the Broncos "got me in on my day off and told me that I'm free to look elsewhere".
"Players have got to be held accountable for the results we've been tossing up. If that's me then I have to look elsewhere," he said.
"I've got to take it day by day and week by week and see where my future is. We've got one game in the next three weeks so I'd to get my future sorted over the next month or so.
"I haven't thought about that, I thought I was on contract but contracts don't mean much these days. I've got to cop it on the chin and get my manager to do his job."
