Not the first time Wayne Bennett has used the media to perfection

HE'S done it again. Wayne Bennett has played with the media over rumours he would leave the Knights, as Paul Malone reports.

PLAYING a straight bat. Wayne Bennett used speculation about his future to take the heat off his players.

1. SO WHAT was Wayne Bennett's impression of a clam last week over his coaching future about?

Last week, Bennett declined to guarantee that he would be at the Knights next week in the third year of his four-season deal. Another way of saying it was that he declined to deny he would be off to the Cowboys.

Then the day after Newcastle's elimination by the Roosters, Bennett ended what suspense there was, saying he was staying put in the Hunter, claiming reporters had "started all this''.

Seasoned Bennett watchers concluded yesterday the Knights coach's willingness to tacitly play ball with the "Bennett on the way out'' story was allowed him to spare some of his players media scrutiny in the countdown to the preliminary final.

Your old mates in the fourth estate were glad to have been of service again, Wayne.

2. South Sydney won 19 games this year, more than any Rabbitohs team managed in a season, except the 1971 premiership team.

It was achieved in a regular season two rounds longer than the 1971 Bunnies team managed, but still the hallmark of an excellent season.

Sam Burgess was at such a loss after the preliminary final loss to Manly that he seemed on the verge of tears when interviewed on the field.

"It's not what we deserved,'' he said.

But it was the dividend Souths received for choosing their playing style and with it their player roster, in which the salary cap was disproportionately spent on big, bopping forwards.

Souths' three-quarterline last Friday alongside tryhound Nathan Merritt was Bryson Goodwin, who is closing in on 100 NRL games, not than any come to mind, and two kids called Dylan.

Sure, it didn't help Souths that outside backs Matt King and Beau Champion were not on the park for the finals and Greg Inglis has played wounded for so long this year.

But the team built from their recruiting choices leave Souths looking less likely to win a premiership than they did a year ago.

3. How is Channel Nine's coverage of the NRL finals treating you?

For all the moments of shrewd commentary by Peter Sterling and Phil Gould and their world-class action pictures, there are still aspects of the telecasts which provide wallpaper-chewing moments.

This Sunday, former Roosters great Brad Fittler will cheer into his mike for his old team and be "marked'' on the sidelined by Manly coaching consultant Andrew Johns, who was hugged by Kieran Foran in their interview last Friday.

Television bosses think viewers love watching ex-stars pal around with players on camera and not asking questions about the match that matter.

They know their business really well. So an awful lot of you must do.

4. I was flicking through a magazine in a doctor's practice recently and it all brought home what is missing for supporters of the Australian rugby team.

The cover story from the October, 1999 edition of GQ magazine (you're right, the practice needs to take a new subscription or two) was about John Eales talking with cautious optimism about that year's Rugby World Cup.

No, this isn't so much about that the Wallabies no longer have a John Eales around the place.

"Australia will go over there with a big chance of winning it, but we need to perform to the best of our ability to do it. We have proved (in 1998) that we can do it,'' Eales said.

Assign those quotes to which ever current Wallaby you can think of and you imagine the words coming from their mouth.

The difference is that Eales' Wallabies won that year's World Cup, backing up the talk with the walk.

It's not the losing that hurts so much lately. What is really hurting the loyal fans of the Wallabies is when the losing comes after reading and hearing for so long how players are on an improvement curve.

"We've run out of excuses,'' Quade Cooper said after the Cape Town Test loss.

5. Annoy enough fellow players and fans and they are not going to feel much empathy for you when a grand final blows up spectacularly in your face.

Fremantle's Hayden Ballantyne, a weekly pest for rival teams, was ranked 44th out of the 44 grand final players by Herald Sun AFL writer Jon Ralph. Almost every decision and execution was the wrong one.

Among those with better memories of grand final day 2013 were the members of Hunters and Collectors. Score the half-time act about eight Meatloafs out of 10 on the grading of AFL grand final entertainment.

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