Queensland's State of Origin coach Kevvie Walters is retiring Bronco's skipper Corey Parker's choice to coach the Brisbane Broncos when Wayne Bennett finally calls it quits.
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Broncos hard man Corey Parker – the self-declared "former bald kid from Logan Brothers" who went on to play 341 games for the Broncos, 19 State of Origin games and 13 Tests for Australia delivered his verdict during an interview to promote his autobiography, Iron Man.
"I think Kevvie Walters," Parker said.
"Kevvie Walters epitomises what Brisbane is all about," he said.
"And depending where he's at in next five years or so, he might be back in the show."
Kevin Walters is synonymous with the Broncos; part of the club's original Ipswich connection with his brothers Steve and Kerrod and Allan Langer and a multi-premiership winning halfback and five-eighth.
Since his playing days finished in 2001 Walters has coached the Ipswich Jets, the Catalan Dragons, worked with Bennett at the Broncos and become assistant coach at Melbourne before coming back to the Broncos as the halves coach.
Walters has made a good fist in 2016 at Queensland's State of Origin coach and has the outgoing Bronco's skipper's vote after Stephen Kearney – the former Kiwi international player and coach - took up a three-year deal to coach the Warriors in the NRL.
Corey Parker's autobiography Iron Man tells the story of his 16 seasons at the Broncos – the one club he always wanted to play for - after graduating from juniors as a five-eight at Logan Brothers.
He tells of life as a Brisbane kid growing up playing footy with a goal-kicking kid from Marsden named Cameron Smith who would also become a household name in rugby league and the current Australian, Maroons and Melbourne Storm skipper.
He idolised Broncos quicksilver centre Steve Renouf in the 1980s and 1990s and tells of being hooked on the Broncos after his Dad took him to Brisbane Airport to welcome home the 1992 premiership-winning Brisbane team.
Spotted by legendary rugby league talent spotter Cyril Connell in 1999, Wayne Bennett remembers being told by Connell to persevere with Parker for the long-term reward.
"He's not as big as some of the others in the forwards but if you stick with him he'll prove his worth," Connell told Bennett.
"He's got a very good work ethic and in every game I've seen him play he never ever gives up."
Bennett says he turned after talking to Connell and looked.
"He had no hair at the time, he'd cut it off, he had just the scalp, just a bloody shaved head and he stood up to everybody, no-one could stand over him."
Iron Man tells Corey Parker's story of 16 years at the Broncos; his "graduation" by props Andrew Gee and Shane Webke, by backrowers Tonie (Tunza) Carroll and Gorden Tallis, the game's controversies and highlights and his long-lasting friendships with Brent Tate, Cameron Smith and Justin Hodges.
It's written in a conversational way with Stuart Honeysett, The Australian's rugby league writer for 17 years, and it reads like you're talking footy while having a beer with Corey and his wife Margeaux on their back deck at South Logan, while their kids play in the backyard.
Parker names his "best 13" and his "toughest 13". They're completely different teams. Only Cameron Smith is in both teams. Sonny Bill Williams is in one, Justin Hodges the other.
In conversation, he tells how only two players – both fullbacks – consistently left him grasping as one of the modern game's best defenders.
"Roger Tuivasa-Shek (Warriors) and Matty Bowen (Cowboys). Thank God I always came up them with someone either side of me."
But Iron Man doesn't skirt bigger issues.
Parker says it is still "too early" for another Queensland team in the NRL because the NRL was still "holding up weak links".
"Do we have the fan base and the infrastructure here in Queensland to do it?" he said.
"Yes we do. But as a game, I don't think you can put another team in just yet. The old cliché is you are only as strong as your weakest link. And, at the moment a lot of those weak links are being held up by the NRL.
Parker says drugs and extortion are a threat to all professional sports, including rugby league.
"I do know the NRL faces an uphill battle when it comes to players taking drugs and an even bigger battle with extortion," he writes in Iron Man.
"I pride myself on the fact that I have never taken drugs in my life, but I have been around team-mates who have," Parker writes.
"But I'm not going to name any names, or indicate whether they're current or former players, but I have been in their presence when they've used recreational drugs."
"I don't think the team-mates I have known who have been on drugs are just a problem for the Broncos or Queensland or Australia or the NRL either, I think it's a problem for society."
Later, not-surprisingly, a frank Parker says players faced with drugs have to learn "respect" and the ramifications themselves if they want their careers to last.
"Now what we need to do is raise awareness and understanding that - okay if this is going to be the case - well, these are the ramifications," Parker told Fairfax Media.
Parker said he was asked by author Stuart Honeysett if he had personally seen players using drugs.
"Well I have never physically seen it, but I've seen the effects of it."
He has limited patience with players using performance enhancing drugs, writing "there are plenty of players dumb enough to use those, whether knowingly or not," he writes.
"I don't care if they were under orders from the coaching staff, or anyone else for that matter.
"If you're taking something, or injecting something then it's your fault."
He said he – like many other players – was aware of players who "changed".
"I always found it strange coming up against blokes who went from one minute playing like run-of-the-mill footballers to the next, where it was like they were made of steel," he writes.
"Again, I'm not going to name anyone, but some guys in the NRL you just bounce off and you think, 'where the hell have you been and what are you on'."
He will expand his career on Fox Sports, where he has signed a three-year deal, and work with the Broncos.
Iron Man – the autobiography of Corey Parker by Pan MacMillan – will be released September 27.
Visit www.brisbanetimes.com.au on september 25 to read exclusive extracts from Iron Man - the autobiography of Corey Parker
