Wayne Bennett, I have tremendous respect for you. What you have achieved in your career as a coach may never be done again.
You were appointed the inaugural coach of the Brisbane Broncos when the team was founded in 1988. When you left in 2008 you had coached a record 532 matches and won six premierships.
In that same period you also guided Queensland to State of Origin victories in 1987 and 1988, and led Australia to world domination in 1998 and 2004. Since leaving the Broncos you have also achieved premiership success with the Dragons.
In short, you will go down as one of the greats.
But Wayne, you ruined my Friday.
How is that possible? It was Friday for a start – one of the most glorious days of the week, as we look forward to a gorgeous weekend ahead. It was a beautiful day in Sydney and my team, Parramatta, thumped Manly in our opening game.
But you ruined my Friday because you destroyed any chance I had to do well in Supercoach for Round 1.
I went into Thursday night’s game excited. Finally the NRL was back. In my home there was a sense of anticipation as we tuned in and heard Ray Warren and Phil Gould’s familiar voices.
But my excitement quickly turned to boredom, and to pure disappointment by the end.
Wayne, I’m not going to tell you how to coach your team, but sometimes I think your strategy is to be smarter than the rest of us. It certainly was not successful on Thursday night.
Your team selection was baffling, basically a disaster. Did you see the missing person report that went out at around 8pm? It was for Anthony Milford.
Anthony Milford is a superstar, one of the most talented and dynamic football players in the game. But looking for him on Thursday was like flicking through a ‘Where’s Wally’. Why would you play him at five-eighth and not fullback, where he is free to roam and has more space to use his electrifying pace?
And poor Jordan Kahu. This talented young man has been riddled with injuries over the last few years and he had a shocker. The poor kid could not have caught a cold. Why pick a player who is trying to find his feet and confidence, and leave him exposed in a position that he clearly has not mastered?
Kahu is in my Supercoach team – luckily I decided not to pick him as one of my reserves. My dad was not so lucky.
Then, you committed one final sin.
There are two types of people who play Supercoach: those who have Corey Parker in their team, and those who are worried about not having Corey Parker in their team.
I fall in the former category. The man is the Supercoach God. In the eyes of most Supercoach players he can do no wrong. How do you stuff up God? How do you singlehandedly smite every Supercoach fan that has God in their team?
You know the answer Wayne, because you did it last night. You play him out of dummy half for over 20 minutes and have him labouring around the park using his energy following the play to pass from dummy half.
Corey’s biggest strength as a player is his tremendous ability to run up hard and offload. He had zero offloads for the night. Not only that, Corey is an 80 minute machine. But Wayne, you spoiled that too, only letting him play 60 minutes.
Never in the history of Supercoach, other than because of injury, has God failed to reach 50 points. Until Thursday when he got 35.
On Friday morning my dad had a face like a beaten favourite. His captain was God and he had Kahu in his side – their combined score was 77. Luckily he left out Milford.
In future, please keep Corey Parker on the field for 80 minutes but not playing out of dummy half. I want to see the Broncos do well, so please also return Anthony Milford to his prime position, and move poor Kahu to the wing.
Follow Mary on Twitter @ladieswholeague
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