But the injured playmaker says being brought on stage by Adam Reynolds to lift the trophy meant "10 times more" than a premiership ring ever could have.
In career-best form, 31-year-old Walters had his finals campaign cruelly cut short by an anterior cruciate ligament injury suffered in the qualifying final win over Canberra.
It left Walters unable to atone for the heartbreak of the 2023 grand final loss as his teammates came from behind for a 26-22 win in Sunday night's decider against Melbourne.
The near-miss might have left some to feel bitter, but not Walters.
"I probably thought I'd be a little bit more jealous or wishing a lot more that I'd like to be out there," he said.
"(But) I'm just so happy, they've worked so hard, it would be so selfish of me to wish they'd lost."
Captain Reynolds brought Walters on stage at Accor Stadium to lift the premiership trophy with him, as the club celebrated its finest hour since its last title win in 2006.
That gesture will stay with Walters as long as a physical memento from grand final glory.
"It obviously means a lot," he said.
"I was pretty devo that I wasn't going to get a ring today, but that's probably even a better result because I'll probably never get to raise a trophy like that as a captain.
"It's 10 times better than getting a ring."
But the win was not without mixed feelings for the son of ex-coach Kevin Walters, who led the Broncos to the 2023 decider but was fired after last year's middling season.
The elder Walters largely assembled the Broncos' current roster - only two players from their 2025 grand final-winning team were not on the books when he was coach.
"I'm obviously really feeling for Kev," Walters said.
"I want to enjoy winning a premiership, but I just feel really sorry for him because it's a squad that he built. We should've done this two years ago when we were here in 2023. Now he's not here.Â
"It's footy sometimes and I know he's a massive Broncs fan. He's still really close with a lot of boys in the squad. Although he's probably hurting, he's probably really happy as well."
Walters points to the AFL's Brisbane Lions for proof that the unfortunate timing of his injury may not have spelt the end of his premiership dream.
Darcy Gardiner, Bruce Reville and Oscar McInerney all missed the 2024 AFL grand final win, before earning selection in 2025 when the Lions went back-to-back.
"I've leaned on the Lions a lot," Walters said.
"There's a few boys that didn't play last year that got to play in this year's grand final, so hopefully I can do the same thing next year.
"We've got predominantly the same squad, so there's no reason why we can't go back-to-back."
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