Bennett's behaviour worthy of the sack

England were doing just fine without him. They won the Baskerville Shield (2-1) last year versus New Zealand and were more competitive in the last four nations under Steve McNamara. Bennett has taken them backwards and reverted to sooky no-talk mode when he was found wanting once again. Bring back McNamara... someone with some pride and passion for the team and get rid of the mercenary who isn't interested in the team or promoting international rugby league.

I think though, given time, maybe a year or so, he could really turn England around. Look at the NSW side he had though. Rubbish. And its' not only England who need his help in that regard, player development. If he did that in England, they'd do well from it.

Bennet is overrated. He's a smart guy who won some premierships with teams stacked with rep players. Now he is purely interested in money. Good luck to him, but he is doing nothing for rugby league anymore. England are on the verge of winning - but about 2 quality backs short - he will bend the rules to get a few Aussies in there and probably have a good go at the World Cup.

I dont disagree with a lot of what you said but he is no Myth. The Broncos didnt do anything when he was coaching elsewhere did they, and StGeorge hardly had a fantastic roster. All coaches find it a lot easier when they have great players, but plenty still dont win

Haha if "being Wayne" is a sackable offence then he would have been sacked from every team he has ever coached. Lucky for Wayne he is employed as a coach. He seems do be OK at that so not expecting him to be sacked any time soon.

Yep ! That St George side was a pretty handy team of players all in their prime playing years ! Bennett has always done well with teams of good ability, but far less effective with lesser light teams ( eg Newcastle & England !). He has been very fortunate to have primarily been the coach of high class teams with long-term access to on-field greats like Lewis, Langer, Meninga, Thurston, Smith & Cronk , Inglis , Slater ! I think many other poor wretches might have also become "super coaches" with this sort of cattle to work with !

James Graham should still be captain. Unless he didn't want it

Read any of the thinly veiled articles on Bennett from Gould or the not so subtle ones from the highly regarded Roy Masters. Bennett is a winner there is no doubt about that. FACT - He has had stacked decks with most of his success, 3rd party deals ( and more off field resources than any club at the Broncos ) which have allowed him to have a roster others can only dream of. This wasnt the case with the Knights and the results were of course not to the Bennett norm. Good coach ? No doubt . The master coach ? You must be kidding. It's worth remembering the Storm salary cheating was exposed in 2010 ( saints premiership) and IMHO anything less than a Broncos GF appearance is a failure given the scheduling advantages ( every friday ? seriously ) 3rd party deals and off field resources at his disposal. Bennett is a myth ! he's been extremely lucky throughout his coaching career.

England lost by 1 point to New Zealand, beat Scotland, and lost to a very good Australian side. So basically the results met expectations.

In his last year at the Knights, there were massive systemic issues from the top. It's hard to motivate your squad when players aren't being paid. It's even more difficult when one of their teammates becomes a quadriplegic from a tackle gone wrong, and then your star fullback goes to rehab. Wayne recruits the players he wants at a club. Players he can trust who will do what's needed on the field. Players who will take a genuine pay cut to play for him, allowing him to fit a star team within the salary cap, and then turns three quarters of them into representative players as a result of the club's success.

I thought McNamara did an excellent job too and would like to have seen him continue in the role. But at the same time, the issues that Bennett has raised regarding the English team are valid too. Ultimately, those issues need to be addressed if English potential is to be realised. Whether McNamara could have fixed them, I can't say.

I'm not so sure about that. England look great when they attack with their customary Super League style but Bennett is right in trying to teach them how to grind it out when such plays don't work. They did that quite well in the first half against Australia but some silly discipline problems helped Australia take a lead into half-time. England have a culture they have to unlearn before relearning a new one. I think Bennett has done a very good job in using this tournament to discover chinks in the English armour. In fact, more than winning the tournament, for me, reaching the final would have merely been another chance for Bennett to explore his side more in an actual match, all in preparation for the World Cup. In what way is he doing more harm for the game in England? In the post-match press conference, Bennett laid it out quite clearly what the issues were with the team and the problems they faced. A person would really have to have had thin skin if they felt that that was doing more harm than good.

Bennett has tested out three different half back pairings in this tournament and put together a new coaching team. Although I'm pissed off with the England sides displays getting shut of the coach now would be a pretty poor knee jerk reaction. Next years world cup will be the acid test and I'm prepared to keep my powder dry until after that. He knows exactly what he's dealing with now and has twelve months to get his formula right.

I was merely stating i would go to fitness before most of the rubbish in this article. Its nothing more than a sledge that gained traction and got repeated enough times to become accepted. A theme in rugby league im afraid.

Looks like Burgess will be his scapegoat. Lucky for him he's leaving England and not arriving, he won't have to do a runner through the side door at the airport again

You believe they lost on fitness? Look at the tries..Scott carried 4 of them with him over the line. Gillette thru the middle 3 hanging off him.. Cronk waltzed thru the line.. Greggy man on boy try.. Holmes off a couple of nice offloads... too much versus not enough..

Surely if the game ran to a predescribed script of competitiveness for the first 30 minutes, one would look to the fitness of the players and not the ability of either the players or a coach who has had them for 3 minutes. I certainly wouldn't be blaming a national mindset that was supposed to have been changed overnight.

Well said SA

Bellamy showed during his time as NSW coach that he cannot work his magic with short turnarounds and managing the combination of players from different clubs. If he struggled with NSW against a hot Qld side, he may have bigger challenges being a foreigner to the players, clubs and country as well as plotting the downfall of a hot Kangaroos team. Bellamy maybe a worthwhile target when he retires from the Storm. Ideally he should relocate to England to become their full-time national coach and put in place some Storm/NRL player development structures to feed the national team with some quality and quantity.