The legendary Bronco Gorden Tallis has urged the team to remove Adam Reynolds from captaincy and install Pat Carrigan in his place, citing the team’s “attitude” issues. Under Kevin Walters, Brisbane appears destined to miss the finals for the third time in four seasons, and their crushing defeat to the Bulldogs last Sunday was their poorest showing of the year. Tallis thinks the group, which advanced to the championship game the previous season, is disorganized and has Reynolds as its main emphasis.
“I think the team is lacking leadership. I watch them closely… on Saturday somebody needed to stand up and put a stake in the ground,” Tallis said on NRL 360.
“(Reynolds) didn’t do it, and in the grand final he didn’t get them home either. If he’s the captain and he’s not doing it, there might be a chance to put Pat Carrigan there.
“It’s about putting your ego in your pocket because Allan Langer left to go to England and they put me as captain. When he came back, Alf was the captain again but he said ‘no you’re our leader’.
“In that game on the weekend, under the pump, if I’m playing with Allan Langer, he gets out from dummyhalf, he does three or four tackles in a row, he looks at us and challenges us. There’s none of that happening at the moment.
“So maybe there should be a change with (the person) who gets the C next to their name.”
But Tallis added there were other factors at play and said injuries have also played a significant role this season.
“The grand final hangover, I think it’s real. I think it’s a shortened pre-season. Vegas, going over there with a short pre-season,” Tallis said.
“I think they thought going over there would maybe (impact them) for four or five weeks (afterwards) but then they got the injuries.
This season, Carrigan, Haas, Reynolds, Mam, and Walsh have all appeared on the field in just five games. When you combine all of that, I believe their attitude over the weekend served as their defense. “The number of people at training last Friday made it feel like a semi-final or grand final,” the author said. They still have their fan following even if they lose games, since I always say that the more pats on the back you receive, the softer you become. “It’s back to hard work, I think the players do believe that.”
“There’s an issue there—I don’t want to put the responsibility on Kevin Walters—but this is the third year in a row that they will miss the finals. “The Broncos would be worth at least $2 million more than Canterbury if we were to assign dollar values to every player on the field this weekend,” the assurance goes. “I don’t think Reynolds should have received a one-year extension, and maybe they could have retained Flegler instead of Farnworth.”
Braith Anasta stated, “They placed 14th, 9th, advanced to the grand final, and now they’re going to miss the finals once more.” “They now have a strong roster up there; they may be young, but their roster is strong. Therefore, if Kevvie is not at fault, then who is? James Hooper retorted, “Remember that when Kevvie took over, he inherited a mess—they were coming off a wooden spoon.” You may overlook the first year, then, as he also had to make changes to the roster. “They’re representative players, but I think they made some mistakes in terms of recruitment and retention, letting Flegler go and Farnworth, Capewell left.”
