Crash Tackle: Wayne Bennett’s incredible coaching run about to end — or will it?

One of the most extraordinary records in Australia ends next month when Wayne Bennett officially becomes unemployed. Or so we’re told, writes ROBERT CRADDOCK.

The conversation with Wayne Bennett was 34 years ago but for some strange reason I can still remember it.

“Wayne,’’ I said. “I’ve just been talking to (Broncos director) Porky Morgan and after looking at your contract with Canberra he is confident he can get you to the Brisbane Broncos. His actual words were the contract is so loose you could drive a truck through it. So there’s some good news.’’

Bennett replied: “Yes … that’s good … but I wonder why Porky said that about the contract. I actually wrote that contract you know. It’s my work.’’

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Wayne Bennett’s career is coming to an end, or is it? (Photo by Matt King/Getty Images)

That was rugby league 1980s style, an era when men often managed their own affairs and league, while on the rise, was not the mega-business it is today.

Bennett’s contract of the day was believed to be in the region of $90,000. He was joint coach with Don Furner at Canberra in 1987 and the Broncos duly got their man.

It remains an almost incomprehensive feat of longevity that Bennett has coached in all 34 years since his first in the NRL through five clubs in a journey which may well end next month.

Or will it?

Wayne Bennett takes charge at South Sydney training. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

It is believed the three franchises in contention to be the 17th NRL team all named Bennett as their preferred coach.

One of them apparently had mixed feelings about it but felt they could lose ground to the other two if they didn’t name Bennett.

Sometimes just breaking square is not a bad result.

But the expansion bus has ground to a halt.

Officially it has only been delayed for a year but given that it has been on the boards since 2011 and nothing has happened in a decade, one year could become two, five or ever forever.

There is a chance that Bennett, 71, who is returning to Brisbane to live at the season’s end, could coach his last game of NRL with Souths next month.

You could have a great debate over which record is better – Cameron Smith’s 433 games with the Melbourne Storm or Bennett’s unbroken run as a coach.

Allan Langer and Wayne Bennett after winning the 1998 premiership.

I don’t reckon either will ever be broken but if one goes Smith’s is more likely to be broken than Bennett’s.

In Bennett’s first year as a senior NRL coach at Canberra the first episode of The Simpsons was aired, Ronald Reagan was the United States president and Bennett’s NRL coaching rivals included Jack Gibson and George Piggins.

It seems like a different age. It was a different age.

It’s a great result for rugby league that Craig Bellamy has signed on for next season as Storm coach because the thought of rugby league losing Bennett and Bellamy together is something the game cannot afford.

People love them. People loathe them. Some celebrate their successes. Others will them to fail. People are fascinated by them. They are, quite simply, irreplaceable.

There are some fine men among the rest of the rugby league coaches but fans like many of them in the way they like cucumber – nice enough when on the plate in front of you but you never crave for it or miss it when it’s not there.

Wayne Bennett and his star-studded Broncos of 1998.

In time Bennett’s career will be dissected and the secrets to his longevity will be detailed by the man himself and people closer to him than me.

Many stand out such as … be your own man, keep advice short and succinct, give players nothing more than a couple of instructions each game, identify the single most influential person at your club and make sure you keep the lines of communication open with him.

When rebuilding a side start with defence. Make sure you have a few jokers in the team. If your halfback is a larrikin that’s good. They need personality.

Get to know the man and you will get to know the player.
Enjoy the theatre of the game off the field. Don’t be intimidated by it.

Celebrate Indigenous players. Cut players one year too early rather than one year too late.

Stay off social media otherwise it will do your head in.

And get someone else to write your contracts.