NRL

Kangaroos coach Kevin Walters has spoken at length about his shock decision to quit Australia following the 2026 Rugby League World Cup to link with Super League club St Helens.

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Speaking on the Inside Ball podcast, the 58-year-old said the wheels for his three-year coaching deal were put in motion over a beer with St Helens chairman Eamon McManus in Liverpool last October.

“Last year on the Kangaroo Tour I bumped into Eamon McManus and we had a couple of beers when we were in Liverpool,” Walters revealed.

“He’s a great rugby league person particularly for St. Helens and the English Rugby League, he’s the owner of St Helens as well and we just clicked, we got along really well.”

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Walters said at that initial meeting there were no talks about any kind of coaching opportunity.

“Nothing was spoken about coaching or anything like that, it was just nice to finally meet him because St Helens have been a powerhouse since the Super League started in England,” he said.

“They’ve won more premierships than any other and they’re rich in history… 1873 they were formed.

“I like his attitude and the way he sees the game as well, it just felt right for this to happen.”

While joining St Helens feels right for Walters at this stage in his career, he admits giving up the Australian job wasn’t easy.

“That was a hard thing,” he said.

“That was the non-negotiator… that I coached (Australia at the World Cup).

“We’ll finish that and then I’ll go over to England, their preseason will have just started or be about to start by then.”

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‘Could only be good for the game’

Perhaps unsurprisingly given he’s just signed on to spend the next three years of his life there, Walters was upbeat about the trajectory of the Super League and the new phase it’s potentially about to enter with the support of the NRL.

“English Super League is the next best competition to the NRL and with the expansion of the NRL clubs, two new clubs and the NRL talking like they’re trying to buy into Super League, I feel that could only be good for the game over there as well,” he said.

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Walters draws cheeky comparison between St Helens and the Broncos

Given his current rugby league commitments span podcasts, TV work with Fox League and coaching his country, why give it all up to move to the north of England?

“Coaching is my passion,” he declared bluntly. 

“I love doing this podcast, I love my work on Fox, but if I could say only one thing, it’s coaching.”

Walters ended by drawing an amusing parallel between St Helens and the Brisbane Broncos, where he went within a whisker of becoming an NRL premiership-winning player and coach in 2023.

“(St Helens) is a wonderful opportunity at a big club that’s had great success,” he said of the move. 

“Not all that much different to the Broncos really, except when I took over the Broncos they were dead set last — these guys are sitting mid table,” he grinned.

Walters has signed a three-year deal with St Helens through to the end of the 2029 Super league season.

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He previously coached Catalans Dragons between 2009-10.