When Wayne Bennett announced he was to going leave the Dragons for Newcastle, a gloom descended upon my soul. The man who had taken us to the promised land was going to banish us once again to the wasteland of mid-table mediocrity.
For three years the Dragons had undergone a radical transformation. A team of talented, yet misfiring players became the model of consistency.
Gone were the dropped balls and needless penalties. Our goaline was impenetrable, we dominated the advantage line, even the ref seemed to be on our side (yes, I will now admit some of those Soward passes were a bit iffy).
Under the Bennett regime, watching games was no longer a tortuous experience in direct violation of the Geneva convention. I am convinced that Wayne added back years to my life expectancy. My blood pressure went down, hairs stopped turning grey, and I even took up yoga.
Sunny afternoons at Jubillee seemed to go on forever. Beers tasted crisper, the pies were less stale and even The Footy Show‘s comedy seemed nuanced and insightful.
But the puzzling part of this turnaround was the manner in which it was achieved. It was so simple: don’t drop the ball, don’t give away needless penalties, and don’t miss tackles.
Although I would like to point out that I had been screaming this advice from the sidelines for years with admittedly less successful results.
So when 2012 rolled around I hoped things might not be too bad. Bennett had installed a pretty straight forward plan, so it shouldn’t be too hard to emulate, right? Wrong.
It was only Round 2 before we got smashed by the Bulldogs in probably the worst game I had seen in over three years. It was the Dragons of old – dropped balls, needless penalties and missed tackles.
The Bennett era was over and this is what I had to look forward to. Curse you, Wayne.
But now as we head into week five, there is cause for optimism. That thrashing by the Bulldogs is looking like an anomaly following dominating wins over the Tigers and the Sea Eagles.
Perhaps we will succeed without Saint Benny. I have tentatively booked a yoga session for next week. I believe.
Muzz
Guest
Agree the Dragons look alright at the moment and are slightly more entertaining than the Bennett era but don't get ahead of yourself as everyone's beating the Tigers and Manly were missing 3 internationals.... Soward still needs to run more.....
Chris
Guest
"even The Footy Show‘s comedy seemed nuanced and insightful" Settle down, no need to get ridiculous...
Charles
Guest
Wayne Bennett coaching style is that he puts simplicity into the game. Do the simple things right over and over again until it becomes 2nd nature The game plans he has are simple to follow and this is why the players believe in him When he came to the Dragons he had the players and they were knocking on the door for a win All they needed was belief in themselves and the coach to get theme there Nathan Brown did well under the circumstances, he only just started his coaching career Stephen Price is trying to take then to the next level which Wayne should have done last year That is putting more flair in their game, attacking both sides of the field and up the middle, being unpredictable If they can maintain the discipline and the patience and do what Stephen Price requires, the Dragons will be hard to beat!
turbodewd
Guest
Dragons prove that Bennett influence remains and the good work he did is still there...
Andy
Guest
The Dragons are not as good without Bennett. Sure they dominated a poor tigers team at home, but the tigers had lost their previous game. Also, manly has only won 1 out of 9 trips to St George Illawarra's home ground, last year the score with bennett was 24-6 and this year without bennett was 17-6.