Suggesting Wayne Bennett has lost his aura always makes me laugh, but there has been some weird stuff to come out of the Broncos in the last week.
Let’s be clear: Bennett will be remembered as one of rugby league’s greatest mentors.
He has been head coach of Australia, the English national team (the first non-English coach to be in that position), Queensland, St George Illawarra Dragons, the Newcastle Knights and most famously the Brisbane Broncos. He holds the record for the most grand final wins and also the most seasons with a single club.
Not only has he been successful on the field, but there are countless stories about the special bonds he forms with his players.
The one I always think of first is his relationship with Darius Boyd – a player who we have watched follow Bennett from club to club and who has essentially grown up in the media spotlight, with Bennett there to help guide him through it.
But the Broncos have had a tough start to season 2018. They currently sit 11th on the NRL ladder with four points after starting their season 2-3.
On Saturday night they lost to a spirited Newcastle Knights outfit 15-10 and were, quite simply, outplayed.
Then there’s the situation with Sam Thaiday.
Sam Thaiday (Photo by Bradley Kanaris/Getty Images)
It started last week, at a press conference, when Bennett assured the media that Thaiday would remain in his top 17 for the remainder of the year.
“We didn’t give him another year so he could play in the state comp with Norths or anyone,” Bennett said, in response to Chris Walker having suggested that Thaiday should retire immediately rather than playing out the final year of his contract.
But is the choice that simple?
Bennett has tapped countless Broncos on the shoulder during their career, like Justin Hodges and Corey Parker.
It is a difficult decision for any player to make, but it is better to leave fans thinking you could potentially have done another season, rather than holding on to your career too long.
But when Hodges and Parker were tapped, it ended amicably. Is Thaiday the same sort of player?
This is a man who reacted vehemently to being dropped from the Maroons and Kangaroos last year. Instead of blaming his own dip in form, he chose to blame (loudly, on social media and through his various media commitments) the coaches and the people around him. Thaiday acted like he was entitled to representative jerseys, rather than that they need to be earnt.
Would Thaiday react in a similar way if dropped the Broncos? Potentially, especially considering that he is on the cusp of reaching 300 games this season.
The hope for Brisbane fans must be that Thaiday makes it easy and that his form picks up as the season progresses.
You would hope that his on-field performances are what he is focusing on too, particularly after telling the media shortly after the conclusion of Saturday night’s game that it “wasn’t about winning for us”. Bennett confirmed this shortly after, that the game was a big step forward for his team.
Interesting comments about a game against a team that has finished with the wooden spoon for the last three years in a row.
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So can the Broncos pick it up or has Wayne lost his aura?
I’m of the view that the Broncos will sort this out and just scrape into the finals. But they have some work to do.
Kevin Walters resigned as their attack coach last week, which was probably for the best. Brisbane scored the second-most points in the competition in 2017. They are a far cry from that team this year.
The squad seems to be running set plays… slowly.
The ball finds its way into the hands of Kodi Nikorima and Anthony Milford, and the rest of the squad watches them. The other option seems to be getting the ball into the hands of Darius Boyd, but putting him in a position where he has nowhere to move.
The Broncos look lost in attack and despite forcing seven line dropouts on Saturday, could only come up with two late tries.
Mistakes are also proving too costly. Against the Knights, Brisbane forced two line breaks early and then received back-to-back penalties, all wasted when Matt Gillett dropped a simple pass just metres from the tryline.
Moments later, Milford found his way through the defence with his signature sidestep, but instead of passing to one of his support players, the ball slipped through his hands.
It doesn’t get much easier from here. Next week, the Broncos face the New Zealand Warriors at Mt Smart Stadium, followed by the Melbourne Storm at home.
Perhaps at the end of these two rounds, we’ll be in a better position to assess whether there are more underlying issues at the club than a lack of confidence on the field.
Kim
Guest
Mary. Loved your article. keep it up.
Forty Twenty
Guest
Looks like I was wrong about the salary cap but the point still remains that if they had most of the champion QLD players they would have won more titles recently
Forty Twenty
Guest
Professor John Managan did a detailed study in 2012 on Bennett and other top coaches. A newspaper article can be googled under its title' Is Wayne Bennett worthy of the title Super coach?' He didn't believe so after viewing all the facts and rated him roughly in line with Bozo Fulton and behind Bellamy and Warren Ryan. He noted that his stint which was about to begin at Newcastle would tell a lot more. I believe if the comp was similar to Bennetts early golden years at the Broncos which I think wasn't restricted by the salary cap and didn't have the Cows and the Storm to compete with then he would have continued to win titles. Smith , Cronk, Thurston, Slater, Scott and perhaps Inglis were a good chance of being Broncos. He won a heap of titles largely because he had virtually all of the best QLDer's in his team and now he hasn't.
Beastie
Roar Rookie
Well the Knights didn't get better under Bennett. If you look at the 3 years before Bennett got there, they won 49% of their games compared to Bennett's 45% winning ratio for the 3 years he was there. That is with a team Bennett himself stacked with what he deemed to be quality players and replacing players he believed weren't up for the challenge. So would you say winning less games in his tenure was him making the team better, or would you only look at the 1 year where they did well to measure Bennett's success with the team? On a side note, even if you take out the last year with the McKinnon incident, they still only have a 47% winning ratio.
Pomoz
Roar Rookie
So Knight vision, you're entire argument is based on illegal salary cap dealings and brown paper bags. You believe he had a better squad because they were given more money. Players write a comment in a published autobiography that they "stayed for less because of Bennett" and that means nothing. You provide no evidence. None. You completely disregard the role of the CEO and Board in signing players somehow making it Bennett's job to structure contracts. You just don't understand how the NRL works. It is not the coaches who structure, approve and sign the contracts. It is the CEO and the Board. Your CEO chose to approve back ended contracts so they could sign players, you have worn the results of that for the last few years. Your genius Board decided to sell to Tinkler, that was a great decision wasn't it? You obviously don't like Bennett but if you are going to write something at least back it up with some facts instead of slanderous aspersions.
Gray-Hand
Guest
That argument that Bennett can only succeed with a stacked deck doesn’t stand up to scrutiny Because every single team that Bennett has coached has performed better while he was coaching them. The Broncos got better. The Dragons got better. The Knights got better. New Zealand got better. England got better. The Knights were a mess in the years before Bennett arrived, nearly got to a grand final while he was there, and reverted to a mess after he left. They simply reverted to their natural state, admittedly probably made worse due to their dire financial state following the Tinkler implosion.
Kurt S
Roar Pro
I've not said Bennett said he was blameless and if you read my earlier post I actually suggested that it may have been the opposite. However, Are you suggesting that the Knights board gave Bennett the keys to castle and didn't have prior knowledge of his roadmap for the team. Because if that did happen and Bennett did what he did without getting signoff for he board, I would be absolutely shocked. Who signs the player contracts that are submitted to the NRL? Bennett left Dragons in fair shape. Are you privvy to the demands that the Knights board put on Bennett? Did they give him a timeline for a premiership? If so, it would be easy to see the way he stacked the team? If the Knights board were so concerned about the juniors, why wasn't it stipulated during Bennett's appointment that he keep a percentage of juniors in the squad? Bennett was not touchless at Newcastle, but there were a whole board of directors and front office that really need to be accountable as well. But I don't see anyone casting dispersion on them... Bennett is an easy target. Can you specifically give me any response about the board, their thinking and their expectations when they threw a bucket of cash and the keys to the joint at Bennett?
Knight Vision
Guest
please see souvalis comment above for reply. Nit pick all you like the evidence is there plain to see. Bennett goes ok with a stacked deck, even playing field he'll stuff ur cap trying to get immediate success before bolting for the door. Lets see how the Broncos go after he retires. Me thinks that will be very soon. Paying Bird spine money to sit out in the centres is a head scratcher for sure.
Knight Vision
Guest
brown paper bags and 3rd party agreements are what helped "the myth " build the Broncos.The reason other coaches who took over from him couldnt replicate it was he stufed the cap before leaving, same as what he did at the Knights.
Sport Predictor AUS
Roar Rookie
The broncos could even be 0 from 5 if the goalpost didn’t save them against the cowboys
souvalis
Guest
Yeah,that came out muddled....what I mean is that those questions you put to knight vision would certainly have been asked by Bennett prior to accepting the appointment..he knew what he was doing regardless of the Newcastle boards shortcomings Wayne took the million a year and signed..then hell was unleashed..that junior base you speak of was ripped up and a host of old,past it non performing players bought in by the coach on crazy back ended contracts to get that quick fix..in Wayne’s own words in 3 years under him ‘the club went backwards’....as head of football operations and recruitment/retention it was total disregard for the future of the club...those 3 spoons are his,not Brownis or Stones...he acknowledged what he’d done in his resignation speech then left the scene of the accident..Bronco fan boys can dress that anyway they like,but that’s how it was
Mushi
Guest
If you're in a game of risk/reward negotiation and have no hindsight failures then you are not actually taking enough risk to succeed.
Kurt S
Roar Pro
Was Bennett in his role at Knights before Tinkler came on board? I don't recall Bennett being in an executive role on the Knights board.. what's your point?
souvalis
Guest
You think Wayne,as exclusive head of football operations wouldn’t have thought of asking those questions personally before taking Tinkler money ?
Nat
Roar Guru
Tinkler made and lost $440m+ in 6yrs. For all his good intentions offered to the press, he destroyed everything he touched along with all the small companies and their employees who supplied him on credit.
Nat
Roar Guru
If you listen to the press conference Bennett gave, he didn't bag Brown at all. When asked what he thought of what Brown has done at the Knights, he said "I don't know yet" as in it's rnd 5. Asked about the rebuild.. 'he un-built it so he has to build it again". 20 players left the Knights this season and bought 9 in. If that's not a demolition and rebuild what is.
Beastie
Roar Rookie
I’ve got no doubt that Tinkler thought the process was going to be easier than it was, but he knew that he needed someone in charge of the roster management and team structure to set it up correctly for current and future success, and that was why he wanted Bennett. There were numerous reports when he signed that Tinkler wanted long term success and that is the reason he brought Bennett to the club. http://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/04/12/3189367.htm https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/nrl/wayne-bennett-signs-with-newcastle-knights/news-story/906e468210e9fceabb7587c5d94cd7ef?sv=9c753c61c9d0a0da505330e3343d5e2
Gray-Hand
Guest
Tinkler has been comprehensively proven to not be a long term thinker, and given his well documented less than squeaky clean business practices, I don’t think it’s a stretch to suggest that salary cap compliance in future years would have been any more of a priority for him than the rules of corporate governance. That’s not a dig at anyone else in the Knights organisation now or then - Tinkler was a loose cannon.
Beastie
Roar Rookie
He nearly got there in year 2, year 3 was the McKinnon incident and he bailed on year 4. I've never said that Bennett is solely to blame for the problems the Knights have had, and I've also commented (on previous threads on the topic) that I believe the problems date back to Hagan and Smith and their own handling of the rosters. He did, however, have a big hand in deciding which players to keep and which to let go during his time there and my comments on him letting a lot of our junior/depth players go stands. I do have to ask where you get the idea that Tinkler only wanted a premiership? Do you honestly think he just wanted a win and then didn't care if his team fell apart for the next decade to rebuild? He wanted to make the Knights a great team along the lines of what was built at Melbourne and Brisbane, hence him signing a coach that has seen how it is done.
Gray-Hand
Guest
Bennett had a brief from Tinkler to win a premiership within 4 years, not to set the club up for long term success. Long term roster issues are the price a club pays for pursuing a quick sprint to a title. That was the choice the Knights (Tinkler) made and Bennett carried it out. He nearly got there in year 3, and year 4 was disrupted by McKinnon injury and the Tinkler implosion. It is interesting that now that Bennett is in a long term position at the Broncos and has refused to overpay players in the short term in order to create a balanced roster, he is getting criticised for it.