I'm ready to lead the Broncos
Let's lasso in a replacement for Kev Walters. Also: Queensland Theatre launches its 2025 season but does little to explain what went wrong this year. Update: 4BC farewell
The search is on for a new head coach for the Brisbane Broncos after the incumbent, Kevin Walters, issued a statement expressing his desire to spend more time with his loved ones. (Yes, that’s what he said, even if the media is unkindly reporting that he was sacked.)
The Broncs probably have somebody in mind to replace him, but I’m putting my hand up for the gig anyway.
I’ll admit I don’t know much about rugby league, but then again Ted Lasso didn’t know much about soccer when he took over AFC Richmond. (What do you mean that’s not a real team?)
Seriously, though … the Broncos could do worse than think outside the box rather than try to recruit from within a very small ecosystem. (Good thing Wayne Bennett’s committed to the Rabbitohs or they’d be having him back again.)
Oh, and I concur with Janelle on social media, who was none too happy that the NRL is once again taking away front-page, and top-of-bulletin, real estate that should rightly belong to the Brisbane Lions ahead of the AFL grand final.
Go, our team!
A show about nothing
This article, about Queensland Theatre, was drawn to my attention by a friend who wanted to know what I made of the assertion that we need to “have a conversation” about the adage that the show must always go on.
As well as introducing QT’s 2025 season, the story addresses the sudden cancellation of company’s production of POTUS a couple of months ago.
If you knew very little about this whole business before reading the article, you won’t know much more after reading it. That’s not a criticism of the article or its writer, but of the QTC.
It seems the company’s chief executive, Criena Gehrke, does not wish to, or for some reason is unable to, tell the full story.
We are no closer to knowing about the actual circumstances around the cancellation of the season or, for that matter, the early and abrupt departure from the position of artistic director of Lee Lewis, who was also the director of POTUS.
Noting a previous announcement that the cancellation of POTUS occurred after two cast members had opted out, one reportedly due to injury sustained on-set, the Brisbane Times reports:
Prior to the launch of the company’s 2025 season on Wednesday, Gehrke told this masthead there was a “bigger discussion to have” about cast wellbeing and the point at which productions should “not go ahead because it’s not in the best interests of those artists, or the production itself”.
“Does the show always need to go on, and what are the repercussions of that?” she said.
“We know there are a lot of surveys and data out there at the moment from the sector …
“I think there is an opportunity for Queensland Theatre to really lead that conversation nationally.”
There were also oblique references to QT’s “duty of care” and its need to “deliver a successful and safe season”.
If the QTC wants to “lead” a conversation, it’ll have to provide some more detail about what’s really going on behind the scenes.
It may be that doing so would involve intruding into somebody’s privacy or doing some other avoidable harm — but if that’s what they are trying to communicate, then they are not making a very good job of it.
It just sounds like they’ve got something to hide.
Why is this important? Because we, as taxpayers, are footing the bill. And, by Brisbane Times’ estimate, the cost of the POTUS cancellation was more than $300,000 in lost revenue. One assumes that significant costs were also involved with Lewis’s exit and the ongoing search to find a replacement.
That’s big bucks that many other arts companies would welcome, and some would certainly spend well.
The Queensland public has a right to some detailed answers, or at least some clarity on why there can be no detailed answers.
The CEO and the board should be held accountable for the money they spend and for the experience they provide to their audience — or, in this case, they failed to provide.
P.S.
My very best to Radio 4BC’s Laurel Edwards, Gary Clare and Mark Hine on their last Breakfast show. This has been written before they go to air for the last time, but I expect it will go smoothly for them. Channel 9 News will screen a celebratory piece tonight for the trio, who have been on air for decades, mostly on 4KQ.
Update: here, thanks to Joe Smith, is L,G and M’s final break on 4BC:
Meanwhile, American daytime TV host Kelly Clarkson as “done an Oprah” and given away a huge prize to her audience: a trip to Brisbane to see the Bluey’s World attraction. It unfolded during an interview with Melanie Zanetti, who voices Chilli in the popular kids’ cartoon. Among their prize package, from sponsors including big-hitters like Qantas and Accor, Clarkson noted that the winners will receive Airtrain tickets. I suppose that’s significant since, unlike fares on the rest of the rail network, they cost somewhat more than 50 cents.