Broncos legends Gorden Tallis and Steve Renouf have slammed the Brisbane players who complained about copping a spray from coach Kevin Walters after they were thrashed on Thursday night.
The Broncos were embarrassed at home by the Eels which prompted Walters to deliver an all-time spray after the 53-6 loss.
Walters blasted his players’ poor attitude and dismal defense in a “terrible” defeat that saw them fall out of the top eight with just one round left.
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Several Broncos players “are upset” with the way Walters spoke to the group after the loss, according to rugby league reporter Ben Dobbin.
“I don’t understand why players would be upset,” Dobbin said on Triple M.
“Kevvie is passionate, he thought that they should have been better, a couple of choice words after the match. Who goes and is upset about the way that they were spoken to?”
Tallis emphasized Walters “had a right” to blast his men and said the whingeing players “couldn’t have made it my era”.
“What about Craig Bellamy in the coach’s box every minute? It’s a high-pressure situation where at the moment what do you want them to say? Sir Alex Ferguson kicked the boot at David Beckham in the head,” Tallis said.
Bulldogs great James Graham echoed the sentiment as Dobbin revealed Walters called his players “soft” during the spray.
“You’ve got to face the music. You’ve got to face the truth and Kevvie is within his rights to give the team a spray,” Graham said.
“A minimum of two weeks on the spin, they’ve been embarrassing and they’ve let the team down. They’ve let the town down and you know, they should be playing finals
“That (calling them soft) is designed to get a response and the response shouldn’t be I’m going to go and whinge about it. The response should be I’m going to stand up next week.”
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Tallis then called on Walters to drop the players who complained for the Broncos’ must-win match against the Dragons next week.
“Whoever those two are that whinged and they should just write a line through them,” Tallis said.
“If I found out and I was at that organization, I don’t want to play with that guy.
“If I got called soft, my response is I’m going to prove him wrong. And if you want me to stand in front of Jared Waerea-Hargreaves going mad and racing at me, that takes courage.
“So if someone goes you’re soft, how is he going to stand in front of (Roosters enforcer) Jared Waerea-Hargreaves?”
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Graham agreed and said that was exactly the point of Walters’ sledge.
“That’s what it’s designed to do Gorden,” he said.
“If someone picks you out and questions your toughness and calls you soft, you know I’m doing, I’m going: ‘You know what? I’m going to prove you wrong. You want to call me soft coach? Watch this’.”
Steve Renouf, who played 183 games for Brisbane, echoed Tallis’ opinion, labeling the “upset” group “soft privileged knobs”.
“Precious soft privileged knobs! Toughen up boys,” Renouf replied to Fox League’s tweet.
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