Wayne Bennett says he backed off at times during New Zealand’s triumphant rugby league World Cup campaign to ensure coach Stephen Kearney assumed as much responsibility as possible.
The winner of six NRL premierships as a coach, former Kangaroos mentor Bennett was assistant to the much less experienced Kearney during the Kiwis’ stunning Cup triumph.
Their respective roles were the source of plenty of speculation before and during the tournament, which ended with New Zealand’s shock 34-20 victory over raging favourites Australia in the final last month.
Bennett, who has taken up the reins at St George Illawarra after 21 seasons as coach of the Broncos, said whether he or Kearney was in charge was never an issue for him.
“I’ve always been a team person,” Bennett told New Zealand’s Radio Sport on Thursday.
“I took a role which I was happy with and I just wanted to be part of the team, and we were a great team.”
Bennett said there was a great rapport throughout the camp, from the management to the players, without a cross word between anyone.
“We all worked with the one common purpose and it was to get that result we got,” he said.
“We couldn’t have done it any other way.”
Bennett added: “We didn’t define roles.
“We just got in there and got the job done and I wanted to give Steve as much responsibility as I could, so I certainly backed off in areas that I would normally do to make sure that he grabbed that part of it.”
Bennett said he felt “in synch” with Kearney, adding that “we just worked together famously”.
“If we needed to talk about something we did, otherwise we just got our jobs done,” he said.
“It was a great combination. I really enjoyed being with him.”
Bennett revealed he used the apparent snubbing of New Zealand at the International Player of the Year awards in Brisbane in the week before the final as a motivational tool.
While former Australian and British greats did the honours in presenting the accolades, no New Zealander was involved.
Bennett said it was probably more an oversight by the organisers than a snub, but he made sure he didn’t let the opportunity slip.
“Let’s say I used it,” Bennett said.
“It was a moment you don’t want to miss.”
“It comes back to your connotations. Sometimes you paint the picture the way you want it and I made sure I painted the picture the way I wanted.”
He hoped New Zealanders realised the enormity of the feat the Kiwis pulled off in claiming their first World Cup in the tournament’s 54-year history.
The build-up had featured plenty of praise for the present Kangaroos as one of Australian league’s great football teams, and Bennett had no argument with that.
“It just made the mountain higher and higher and harder to climb, but these guys did it.”
Bennett also gave credit to the former Kiwis players and champion golfer Michael Campbell who were invited to speak to the squad during the campaign.
Among them was former Test back rower Tawera Nikau, who addressed the players in Auckland before they headed to Australia.
Bennett said he caught up with Nikau after the final.
“We gave each other a hug,” he said.
“If I ever felt like a Kiwi, I did that moment, because I know how much pride he had in his jersey and how much passion he talked with in Auckland.”
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