Brisbane coach Kevin Walters has dismissed claims by Gorden Tallis of a rift between him and the Broncos’ board after the former captain tore into the battling NRL club.

Tallis claimed the board reluctantly handed Walters the reins this season and were undermining him by not allowing players to attend an old boys function at the races after their Friday night loss to the Gold Coast.

In a fiery Triple M radio segment Tallis said: “Just watch this space because I think its (the club) going to implode”.

“They need to give him (Walters) full reins and support him. If he is the coach there he can’t be getting blocked with the things he wants to do.”

However Walters said in a statement on Monday it was his decision for players not to attend the races the day after a game, particularly having already attended functions for major sponsor Kia.

“With this race day, it’s a non-issue. There was no ban or snub of the old boys, I made a decision early in the week that being at the races less than 24 hours after we played a game wasn’t a good option,” he said.

“We have seen plenty of the Broncos old boys across the past few months, we’ve had basically all of the Broncos captains come in over the pre-season to speak to the players.

“Educating the current players about Broncos history and what it means to be a Bronco has been a real focus for us, and we make sure they have access to the former players every day – and that will continue, you can be certain of that.”

Incoming chief executive Dave Donaghy is yet to begin at the club but interim boss Neil Monaghan said the board had been impressed by Walters’ ability to reconnect with the club’s former greats and supported his call for them to skip the race day.

“With the former players, our doors are always open,” he said.

“Kev has made a lot of headway in a short period of time in engaging the former players, and we want to continue to help him with that process.

“We now have a heap of old boys mentoring our current players on a daily basis, and those relationships will continue to grow – one missed race day isn’t going to take away from that.”

Meanwhile Matt Lodge (hamstring) is set to return to skills training this week after his round one injury and is a chance to face the Bulldogs on Saturday.

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