When Wayne Bennett sailed off into the sunset at the start of the year, finally ending his career with the Broncos, there were many people at Red Hill who were happy to see the back of the master coach.
However, what Bennett knew – and what many of us are starting to learn – is that he jumped off the Titanic before it crashed into its inevitable iceberg.
He knew that he was essentially skippering a rudderless ship and didn’t want to be marooned on Gilligan’s Island.
The once-mighty Brisbane Broncos have struggled in recent times because of a lack of strong and consistent leadership since the departure of Darren Lockyer.
Recent captains like Justin Hodges and Sam Thaiday would be great blokes to have a beer with, but both appear more suited to the role of class clown than inspirational leader.
So when Darius Boyd arrived back at the Broncos with his adopted father Wayne in 2015, the boys in mustard and maroon thought that they had found their leader in their returning prodigal son.
How wrong they were.
Boyd was never going to be the answer to those prayers because he is too aloof – a lone wolf – and someone who often has difficulties playing well with others.
This was only too evident in a bizarre press conference in Wollongong in 2009 when Boyd fronted the media after a shock loss and answered each question with a monosyllabic answer or grunt.
Eventually, the journalists got upset and stormed out of the ground. It showed Boyd to be someone unfit for the office of club captain.
(Photo by Chris Hyde/Getty Images)
Brisbane’s lack of leaders emerged as far back as the 2015 grand final against the Cowboys, when in an attacking position in the 49th minute of the match, Anthony Milford inexplicably kicked the ball into touch to run the clock down.
This act was the emergence of the first cracks in the hull of the Broncos fleet.
Real leadership can only be found in very rare players and was personified by Cooper Cronk in last year’s decider.
With a busted arm that should have ruled him out of the clash, Cronk was instrumental in the Roosters’ win over the Melbourne Storm.
Unable to pass, tackle or even run, Cronk became the general of the battlefield, barking instructions at players, telling them what lines to run and where to stand for a play two rucks later.
It showed that masterful strategy and the role of the tactician is one of the single most important factors in a side’s success or failure.
Something Brisbane coach Anthony Seibold is discovering the hard way.
Another important barometer to gauge whether a side will sink or swim is the performance of the halves.
Much has been made of Broncos pair Kodi Nikorima and Anthony Milford this year, however, time is running out for the besieged halves to prove that they can work effectively together on the field.
Conventional wisdom tells us that in today’s game you play one half on the left and the other on the right.
It also tells us that one half should be fast and run the ball at the line and that the other should play the percentages and direct traffic.
And this appears to be just the dilemma with Milford and Nikorima.
While they look a million bucks when they step and get on the outside of big tired forwards, they lack impulsivity control to come up with safe, reliable passages of play.
(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
Broncos fans witnessed this at its worst in the last ten minutes of Thursday night’s game against the Wests Tigers.
With the sides locked at 16 apiece, Brisbane had several chances to get into field goal range.
Unsurprisingly, a lack of communication between the six and seven resulted in poor decisions and comical displays that led to the side’s fourth loss in five encounters so far this year.
The main issue for Brisbane over the past two seasons, though, has been their kicking.
The only two options that have been effective have been Milford’s swinging bomb and Andrew McCullough’s kicks from dummy half.
They have achieved fewer repeat sets than any other team this year because they constantly come up with the wrong option to finish off sets.
They grubber when they should go high, go high when they should grubber, and consequently, have the unenviable record of most dead ball kicks and balls kicked out on the full.
Meanwhile, other sides have mastered the ability to pin teams inside their own quarter with accurate kicking, ultimately building pressure opponents cannot withstand.
It appears very unlikely at this stage that the Broncos will be around come finals.
At Redfern though, Bennett’s Bunnies are staring down the barrel of possibly another grand final appearance.
Who knows, come September, Bennett might be celebrating on a yacht in Sydney Harbour while admiring the sunset – yet again – and Seibold might be looking morosely at the same sunset, hoping that the new day will bring a fresh recruit with an edge for leadership.
Someone who can give the Broncos the brains they’re missing.
Papi Smurf
Roar Rookie
Is that right champ? On ya champ! You can count on one hand the times I have used "champ" before in any case. Cheers champ! ;-)
David
Guest
I can't get enough of people who use the word 'champ'.
John
Guest
Given the timing of McGuire's and Bennett's exit, I wonder if McGuire left knowing Bennett's days at Broncos were over. I wonder if he would have stayed if Bennett had stayed one more season.
Shawn
Guest
Though technically, Bennett is a club coach, essentially, he's a "players" coach!! His expertise lays with recognizing the strengths & weaknesses of his players(and staff) both on & off the field, helping them address it, then enabling their newfound maturity & approach(as such), to utilize itself in game situations(aswell as in life), meaning, that his players would play with a strong purpose whatever the situation(or occasion) with temperament & composure! Something, that has been absent from Red Hill since his departure!! Anthony Siebold is a wonderful coach(and both an technical & innovative one at that), whose strengths lay in his formations of game plans. Unfortunately, at this point in time, that is all he has to offer! As the saying goes "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink"....you've got to know when it's thirsty & to do that, you've got to know your horse(all pun intended) Wayne knew "his stable" well & that made all the difference, not all the time, but almost always!!!! Time & results will tell what Siebold will bring to the broncos, it's early days yet, but if something doesn't change for the better, it could be a long season ahead...let alone four on its way!!!!
DP Schaefer
Roar Rookie
Dean, Bennett clearly wanted to stay at Broncos. I can't see where you got the epiphany to write this article.
Gray-Hand
Roar Rookie
Completely different. The Bulldogs finished 10th under Des in 2017. They were 10 wins behind the competition leaders. The Broncos finished 6th, one win behind the competition leaders last year. Bennett was managing the issues the Broncos had. Des had failed.
Superspud
Roar Rookie
Dessie and the Dogs??
Gray-Hand
Roar Rookie
If a club sacks a coach a year early and replaces him with a coach who can’t deal with the exact same issues that Bennett managed to handle, then the blame rests with the club.
Superspud
Roar Rookie
Yeah it could definitely be interpreted that way or it could be said that he didn't invest in any long term planning.(maybe no coach does) Either way all three clubs went through the worst run in their history immediately following his departure. That's worth it if you win a premiership like St George Illa but I don't think Newcastle people would say that. He did get them to a prelim final which in the context of the time a massive over achievement but no premiership. The fact that his departure from Brisbane this time around is under different circumstances so probably not a fair comparison but Brisbane's supposed main issues are a result of decisions made on Bennett's watch.
Fraser
Roar Rookie
The major problem is that the Broncos were a top 4 team or thereabouts since Wayne Bennett returned to the helm in 2015. 2014 (Griffin) - Finished 8th. Eliminated first round. 2015 (Bennett) - Finished 2nd. Lost in Grand Final. 2016 (Bennett) - Finished 5th (tied 4th, but poorer points differential). Eliminated Semi Final. 2017 (Bennett) - Finished 3rd. Eliminated Preliminary Final. 2018 (Bennett) - Finished 5th (1 win off top 4 / minor premiership). Eliminated first round. Unfortunately there were a lot of recruiting errors made prior to Bennett's return that left the Broncos with a fairly mediocre roster, for the most part, that could never really hope to reach a level of consistency of the likes of Roosters and Storm. The Broncos teams of the past few years have been able to pull out a win against the best teams in the competition one week, and then get smashed by a wooden spoon contender the next. I really think it's a problem of on-field leadership. This team hasn't had a real leader since Darren Lockyer, except for a maybe half a season when Ben Hunt was on fire. And I love Alfie Langer, but maybe it's time he backed up a bit and let these relatively young play-makers think for themselves.
Mick
Guest
Typical roar S H I T article lol Bennett was sacked he didn't jump ship As for Boyd he was going through mental heal issues back then during that press conference do you research and 2015 Milford was never the leader in the halves then Hunt was the leader he failed to take control as for brains somebody need to give you a brain
Gray-Hand
Roar Rookie
Surely it logically follows that if a club has the best coach and they replace him with a lesser coach, the team will win fewer games? The fact that Bennett coached teams win more games while he is coaching them is very, very, strong proof that he is a superior coach.
Chris Love
Roar Guru
Agree with a lot of what you’ve said there and it more closely comes to the point of the Broncos’ woes than the article or any of the comments. I do question though how at least 1half and Boyd will be gone next year. Nikorima is contracted until the end of next year. Milford until the end of 2021 and Boyd the end of 2021. We’ve seen in the past how messy club cap rosters get when clubs are forced to move players on under contract. Boyd and Milford are on big bucks. I doubt anyone will want Boyd though maybe Bennett would take him on vastly reduced dollars as a stop gap for a possibly retiring Inglis. I would hope that someone at Souths will stop that happening. Milford could possibly go back to fullback and he plays a lot better there than he does at 6 where he hasn’t developed into the top tier. Partnering Nikorima with that organising half of the likes of Blake Green with Milford at 1 would make a huge difference. Then there’s the Macca issue. His work ethic is fantastic but his passing hasn’t been great in recent years. A lot of headaches for Seibold here. But not many solutions with Boyd and Milford taking up such huge amounts of cap space and not performing.
Rob
Guest
This is one of the most ridiculous articles I have read it's all made up. Darius Boyd had some mental issues back in 2009 but he got help and he is very good with the media now he talks and presents himself very well. As for Wayne Bennett jumping ship that's absolutely wrong Wayne was desperate to stay but the Broncos didn't want him so Dean Andric stop writing bs actually stop writing
ken gargett
Guest
really? for chumps? wasn't bennett likely (or due, if you prefer) a large payout for the broncos cutting his term short? and when they found out he'd already been on the blower to souths' players, he gave them the reason they needed to sack him and forfeited all (or most) of that? i suspect none of us will ever know the full truth but that is certainly how it was portrayed up here. so, how on earth is that playing them for chumps? i don't know where you are based, or where you get some of these fairy tales, but there was a very strong feeling up here that bennett was very keen to line his pockets with a new contract from souths (or whichever club he went to) and a payout from brisbane. didn't quite work out that way for him.
Chilli
Roar Rookie
Just a change of leadership speed hump (coach) isn’t it. Factor in the relationship between coach and captain and ex coach and it’s gotta be kinda weird in there right now! Seibold hasn’t got the leaders he had at Souths last year or the on field organisers so will need to come up with a game plan that doesn’t rely so much on his halves structuring their attack. Once Haas, Fifita, Ofenghuae and Pangai all line up on the same team on the same day they will improve out of sight and then Nikorima and Milford can just run and play. Not writing them off at all as much as I detest them.
Way68
Guest
You guys seem to forget Wayne Bennett made the Broncos the power house they are they lack leadership lack commitment lack combination. I feel for Anthony Seiibold because he had a good thing going at South Sydney. The board got it wrong in swapping coaches my pick would have been Kevin Walters or Jason Demetriou to take over from Wayne Bennett. Now the haters of Wayne Bennett need to take a look at themselves Bennett took the broncos to a lot of premierships so the broncos fan club should be grateful. I admire Wayne Bennett for what he has done for the broncos even though I don't follow them. To be honest they need to get rid of Anthony Milford if they are to have a chance of grand final glory and I agree with Gordon Tallis and Justin Hodges about club culture they need to bring previous players back to tell the young crop what it means to wear the broncos Jersey. Bring the men from the 92/93 premierships back to tell the boys the highs of wearing the bronco jumper good luck for 2019 anyway
thomas c
Guest
I'm inclined to think Bennett would have been able to get more out of the current batch. The loss of mcguire is a blow, but it's still a playing group where most playing have played some kind of rep or had been on the cusp of honours. He might have been able to whip them into being decent (if I doubt getting more out of them). So the titanic metaphor might not be apt. I thought hodges was an okay captain. Not a tactician, but he at least had the instinct to try and win games. On thursday, I would have been pleased to have a senior player have the confidence to inject himself into the final set to try and close things out. Boyd shouldn't be defined by a bad press conference, but you can argue that he doesn't quite fit the mold of master tactician and may not have a play style suited to grabbing a game by the scruff of the neck. The loss of thaiday, mcguire and Sims also contributes to a loss of aggression and confidence. Physically, this team might constitute an improvement on last year (who had many of the same weaknesses), but maybe cedes something in terms of mentality.
Emcie
Roar Guru
To be fair, if teams were going just as good after he left as when he was there people would be wondering why he was hired in the first place. And it's not like he's ever been replaced with a coach of similar calibre
Snoop Bloggy blog
Roar Rookie
The Broncos couldn’t have asked for a better leader at that time than Hodges. Thaiday and Boyd I agree aren’t great leaders but Hodges is the opposite. Since when has someone having a sense of humour prevent them being a good leader? Bennett not Hodges advised on kicking the ball dead in the 2nd half of 2015 gf. The Broncos problems honestly started when Lockyer told GI not to sign with them because he wasn’t confident in Henjak. Great, loyal and honest mateship but against what’s best for the club. The next big stuff up is Milford developement by Bennett which ties in with the disastrous and frankly strange recruitment we’ve seen there in recent years. They have had every opportunity to build a fair better roster but have squandered every opportunity. Seibold is a better identifier of talent than anyone currently at the Broncos and it’s why he was given a 5 year contract. Their spine consists of a no frills maximum effort 9, two 14’s in the halves and a busted and old, ball playing fullback. At least 1 half and Boyd will be gone next year and who replaces them will dictate if Seibold was worth the gamble. I strongly believe he was and if the Broncos can ignore the noise and remain tight they will be a top 4 team soon.