Brisbane Broncos officials being blindsided by Darius Boyd's gender reveal after claiming the wooden spoon was the key problem with the stunt, NRL great Paul Gallen says.
Boyd and the Broncos have been slammed after the retiring club great kicked a plastic football to reveal a pink cloud, signifying an expected baby girl, when Brisbane lost to the Cowboys on Thursday to 'win' the club's first-ever wooden spoon.
In context, it was a jarring moment; branded "disgusting" and "embarrassing" by Broncos chairman Karl Morris. It is understood that no senior Broncos officials were aware of the stunt before it happened.
For Gallen, Cronulla's 2016 premiership-winning captain, that was the biggest problem. The lack of communication and respect inside the club, combined with the absence of self-awareness, was another sign of the rabble that once-mighty Brisbane have been this season.
"They were woeful this year the Broncos, they really were," Gallen told Wide World of Sports on The Final Whistle.
"It's embarrassing for a club like that, the way they've ended up.
"The Darius Boyd gender reveal, I actually had - at the time, or even the next morning - no issue with it; 'What's everyone going on about?'
"But the fact that the club didn't know, that was an error. That was a real error, whether it was by Darius or the playing group, whoever it was, to not allow the club and all the rest of the staff to know what was happening is a huge error.
"Particularly when you're out there, you've just won the club's first-ever wooden spoon in their history, and you're laughing and carrying on and back-slapping and enjoying what's going on.
"I can understand the gender reveal, it's fine had they known about it. But the fact they didn't know about it, those scenes after they just copped their first wooden spoon, that was not a good look for the club."
The Broncos have had a farcical season, winning just three games from 20 to finish last. They also split with coach Anthony Seibold in just the second season of his five-year contract and lost young superstar David Fifita to local rival the Gold Coast Titans.
Any joy felt at the impending arrival of Boyd's third daughter was lost on club officials after the shame of winning the wooden spoon.
"I was embarrassed and disgusted by the gender reveal and celebrations post-match," Morris told Nine News.
An unnamed Broncos legend vented to The Courier Mail: "What has become of this club? Having a gender reveal after winning the wooden spoon? This club has lost all sense of reality. They are a joke."
The Broncos will attempt a drastic resurrection next season - reportedly with club legend Kevin Walters as their new coach and Melbourne Storm's master mentor Craig Bellamy to follow in 2022 as a coaching director.
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