The lashing was so brutal that Kevin Walters didn't want anyone to see, with the Brisbane coach taking a jersey to cover broadcast cameras inside his devastated dressing room.
Without TV screens fixed on him, the frustrated Broncos coach served up some truths for the ages on Friday night after a 46-6 loss to Parramatta in Darwin, their sixth loss for the year.
After seven games in charge, the pressure is mounting on the club legend who has so far failed to turn the wooden spooners around in 2021.
"He was pretty upset, he knows what we're capable of. To come out and play like that is pretty embarrassing to be honest," said star prop Payne Haas, who has been the bright spot for the Broncos this year.
"Kev's a passionate bloke and he loves the Broncos and what we showed tonight was not a Broncos' performance."
Friday night's loss follows an encouraging performance against Penrith last week that was expected to springboard the side into better form against the Eels.
All it did was highlight how far off the pace they are with the top NRL clubs this season.
Walters presented an agitated but collected figure for the cameras after delivering his players a serve over a lack of ball control and a mass of missed tackles against the Eels.
The Broncos missed a whopping 51 tackles and made 16 errors.
"(Parramatta) controlled the ball well, they've got a big side and they did exactly what we wanted to do," Walters said.
"It just goes to show how far apart we are from those better sides on a consistency basis."
It's a struggle Walters knows is his to fix as well as keeping hope alive in the squad before they play Gold Coast next weekend.
"I mean, that's my job and the rest of the coaching staff is to make sure that we're prepared well every week," he said.
"I'm not concerned about (players dropping their heads) at all.
"It's a long season."
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