Walters finds 'a few good men' as Broncos assistants

New Broncos coach Kevin Walters intends to unite the Broncos into a premiership force and has found "a few good men" as assistant coaches to help him achieve that goal.

Walters' assistants are set to be former Castleford Tigers head coach and dual-premiership-winning Broncos forward Terry Matterson and former Titans foundation coach and 1991 Panthers premiership-winning second-rower John Cartwright.

The pair are set to sign in the coming days but they will be key men in the Broncos reboot under Walters after the club took out an historic wooden spoon this year.

"John and Terry are two very experienced and successful coaches and I thought it was best to get senior coaches around me," Walters told NRL.com.

"The big thing for the Broncos is that we need good people around the players and around myself and the staff, and we have found them.

"Terry and John both had great playing careers and are premiership-winners. John was head coach at the Titans and has won a premiership at the Cowboys in 2015 as an assistant coach.

"He comes from the spending the last two years with Des Hasler, one of the great modern day coaches.

"Terry has had great success overseas as a head coach and obviously knows the Broncos so well. He has been working around the game for years at all sorts of different levels.

"I am looking forward to working with both of them. They are both good fellas and very good at their craft, which is what we need."

Matterson, who won premierships as a player with Walters at Brisbane in 1992 and 1993, had six seasons as head coach of Castleford Tigers and was also the head coach of the US Tomahawks at the 2013 World Cup where he engineered an historic quarter-final appearance.

He has been an NRL assistant coach at both the Cowboys and Titans.

The last month has seen several sliding doors moment for the foundation Bronco.

Matterson was the Easts Tigers head of football in the Intrust Super Cup from 2019 and last month was appointed as head coach for the 2021 season after former coach Craig Hodges joined the Warriors as an assistant to Nathan Brown.

Less than four weeks later he has joined the club where he was such a force as a ball-playing lock forward in 155 first grade games, while also playing eight top grade matches with the Roosters.

Five-time Brisbane premiership-winner Walters was also keen to have "Broncos DNA" on his coaching staff and in Matterson he has exactly that, and a man he knows well.

"Terry and I go right back to under-15s when I was playing for Queensland in the halves and he was playing for NSW in the halves, and then we also played 18s against each other," Walters said.

"Then we teamed up at the Broncos and had a really good combination, but the main thing is that he is a very good, experienced coach and knows what winning looks like."

Highly regarded mentor Kurt Richards remains on staff as an assistant coach where his work with player skills and the transition of footballers from lower grades into the NRL is second to none.

"Richo is a good bloke and does a great job with the pathways into the NRL squad so he will remain a great asset," Walters said.

Peter Gentle, the former Broncos interim coach and assistant to Anthony Seibold in the club's wooden spoon-winning 2020 season, has joined the Dragons as an assistant coach.