Crash Tackle: Is Wayne Bennett the man to coach Brisbane’s next NRL team?

Wayne Bennett’s name has already been thrown up as the inaugural coach of a second Brisbane NRL team. Here’s why he should - and shouldn’t - be the man for the job. VOTE IN OUR POLL

Wayne Bennett will leave the Rabbitohs after 2021. Picture: AAP

• It’s on: Titans ready to splash cash for David Fifita

• TIPS.COM.AU: Over $2 million in prizes to be won

To Wayne or not to Wayne?

This is the question thrust before the group of eager franchises jostling to become the next Queensland team admitted in the NRL competition in 2023.

We’ve joked about the NRL’s dithering expansion plans for a decade but it now appears odds-on the NRL will, in the next few months, decide to admit a second team from the Brisbane region.

SCROLL DOWN TO VOTE IN OUR POLL

By timely coincidence, last week also saw South Sydney announce that Wayne Bennett would leave the club at the end of the 2021 season.

Within hours, spokesmen from the three leading candidates for the next Queensland side – the Brisbane Bombers, Redcliffe and Ipswich – had expressed interest in signing him.

Watch the 2020 NRL Telstra Premiership on KAYO. Every game of every round LIVE & Ad-Break Free during play. New to Kayo? Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >

Wayne Bennett will leave the Rabbitohs after 2021. Picture: AAP

We get it. At this stage of the bidding process the wise move is to leave every door open. Say no to nothing. Dream big.

But hiring Bennett for what would be his fifth NRL club at a starting age of 73 is a complex issue.

Here’s the pro’s and cons.

THE CASE FOR BENNETT

1. Instant profile. He has a huge presence and he creates big headlines. Just what a new team needs.

2. He’s cool. Big challenges don’t ruffle Bennett. The more tension that surrounds his team at finals time the slower he moves. There are so many moving parts to a new franchise that it could only help having someone as calm as Bennett at the helm.

3. The derby. It would be the contest you could not miss … the new Brisbane team featuring Bennett at the helm against the Broncos whom he coached to every premiership they ever won before they sacked him.

4. Recruiting power. South Sydney’s signing of Jai Arrow proved that Bennett still has the magic gift of recruiting big name players in heavy demand elsewhere.

5. A new club is no place for a new coach. You don’t need to place an up-and-comer on trial in such a pressurised environment.

6. Age isn’t everything. Bruce Springsteen is the same age at Bennett and still hitting the right notes.

Could a return to Brisbane be on the cards for Wayne Bennett? Picture: AAP

THE CASE AGAINST BENNETT

1. The great Jack Gibson coached his last NRL club at 58 and even the long-lasting Tim Sheens was done by 61. Bennett may have won seven premierships but, at 70, he is the oldest coach in the history of the game now, never mind in three years time.

2. Bennett’s recent form is so-so. It’s a decade since his last premiership and he has been axed as England and Broncos coach in recent times.

FOOTY TIPS! Join Australia’s best footy tipping competition for your chance to win big. Add our experts to your league and join now at TIPS.COM.AU.

3. You may argue age is irrelevant in Bennett’s coaching but what about the general look it gives the club? At the team launch do you really want the master of ceremonies saying “and will you please welcome, our coach, the man who first led the Broncos 35 years ago.’’?

4. Are Brisbane fans really in love with Bennett? People respect him for what he has done but you would not say there is deep-seated everlasting affection. Many fans don’t like him.

If it were my choice I would keep Bennett in the frame while looking around at other options such as a Craig Bellamy who would be a better choice because he is great and he is younger.

But if you couldn’t get a Bellamy …