NRL 2021: Brisbane Broncos players declare they want Wayne Bennett back at Red Hill

It once seemed impossible – the thought of Wayne Bennett returning to the Broncos. But several Brisbane players have revealed they want the master coach back.

Coaches Wayne Bennett and Kevin Walters at Brisbane Broncos training, Red Hill. Pic Jono Searle.

Leading Brisbane players have backed calls for Wayne Bennett to return to Red Hill as part of a reunification plan with Kevin Walters to rebuild the Broncos as a premiership powerhouse.

In a development that should open the eyes of Broncos hierarchy, player power has spoken, with a host of Brisbane top-liners revealing they would relish Bennett returning for a third coming at Red Hill.

Broncos stars Corey Oates, Matt Lodge, Tevita Pangai Jnr, Tom Flegler and Payne Haas all declared their unqualified support for Walters — but believe Bennett’s experience can help Brisbane break the longest premiership drought in the club’s history.

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Wayne Bennett and his former assistant Kevin Walters took the Broncos to the 2015 grand final.

New Broncos CEO Dave Donaghy has left the door ajar for Bennett’s return — possibly as coaching director or culture boss — and now Donaghy has the backing of Brisbane stars, who lauded the power, influence and aura of the NRL’s greatest coach.

Critically, the Broncos contingent say they carry no psychological scars from Bennett’s shock sacking following his bitter fallout with Brisbane’s board and former CEO Paul White in 2018.

“If Wayne was to come back it’d be awesome. Everyone would think the same thing,” Oates said.

“Wayne’s name speaks for itself.

“I know it was tough when he left (in 2018), but that’s not on us, it was with everyone upstairs (Broncos management).

“Personally, as a player, I get along well with him. I really enjoyed having him here and everything I learned from him.

“It’s just his experience, knowledge and history he has with the club.

“That’s what the Broncos have been missing. With ‘Kevvie’ the passion has come back.

“They’d be a great combination together.”

It has been 15 years since the Broncos won a premiership and the glamour club is about to come under siege in south-east Queensland with the NRL to call for expressions of interest on Monday for a second Brisbane licence.

Bennett will return to Queensland when his Souths contract expires in November and the prospect of the Broncos‘ only premiership coach setting up Brisbane’s second team for 2023 represents a public-relations disaster for Red Hill chiefs.

Two prospective bid teams gunning for the NRL’s 17th licence, the Brisbane Jets and Firehawks, have already held talks with Bennett. The third NRL expansionary hopeful, the Redcliffe-based Dolphins, also have Bennett on their coaching hit list.

Wayne Bennett is adored by players, as evidenced by Queensland’s epic 2020 series boilover of the Blues.

The danger for the Broncos is Bennett‘s magnetic appeal to NRL players.

The Sunday Mail understands more than 10 players have told their managers they want to play for Brisbane‘s second team if Bennett is the coach.

In 2016, prop sensation Payne Haas was about to board a flight to Melbourne to sign with the Storm when Bennett phoned him at the last minute. Haas cancelled the trip and signed with the Broncos.

When David Fifita rocked the Broncos last year by quitting to join the Titans, Bennett was one of the key people he consulted.

The Broncos confront the real risk of losing the likes of Haas and Pangai Jnr — and the next generation of young guns — if Bennett takes charge of Brisbane’s new team.

“He is still one of the best mentors in the game,” said Lodge, who received the backing of Bennett when he was deregistered by the code for his New York rampage in 2015.

“He made me feel like I would run through a brick wall for him so he clearly does something right.

Wayne Bennett and Matt Lodge during the 2018 season.

Corey Oates has backed Bennett returning.

“I don’t know it would work with two people running the show, but I’ve always respected Wayne and he did a lot for me.

“The older I get, the more I appreciate what he did for me letting me come back to the game at the Broncos.

“I definitely felt the love when he was here, he stuck up for me a lot, whether that was media criticism or the off-field stuff I was going through.

“We definitely have that connection where I played for him and played hard for him. He would be a great person for some of the young guys we have here.

“I don’t know who runs the show or does what, but if Wayne came back (to help Walters), I guess the Broncos have to put that business plan together.”

Pangai Jnr praised the coaching ability of Walters but said such is Bennett’s influence, he still reaches out to him for career guidance.

“I’m really close to Wayne,” Pangai Jnr said.

“We still keep in contact, he has always been a great mentor for me.

Tevita Pangai Jr and Wayne Bennett at training in 2018. Picture: AAP Image/Dave Hunt

“Kevvie is doing a great job here and he reminds me a lot of Wayne in the way he treats people.

“Kevvie is getting the best out of me. Even though some results haven‘t gone our way, he is holding me accountable.”

There are political complexities to the prospect of Bennett‘s third incarnation at the Broncos.

Bennett would genuinely consider a return to Red Hill but he won’t make the first move. That must lie with News Corp, publishers of The Sunday Mail, the 69 per cent majority owner of the Broncos who have the shareholding power to formalise change.

Broncos chairman Karl Morris has no personal issue with Bennett and would not oppose a comeback if the majority shareholder delivered the green light.

It was the Bennett-Walters alliance that steered the Broncos to their most recent grand-final appearance in 2015 and prop Haas urged the club to consider reuniting the duo.

“Wayne brought me to the Broncos and he has been a massive influence on my career,” he said.

“My dad actually wanted me to go to Melbourne, I was about to sign on the dotted line, but I got a call from Wayne at the last minute and he brought me to the Broncos and I haven’t looked back since.

“If he came back, it would be pretty cool, I know several of the boys would love to have Wayne back around, but we‘ll see what happens.”

Emerging Broncos bookend Flegler said Bennett, who has engineered all six of Brisbane‘s premierships, was the perfect fit for the club.

“His resume speaks for itself,” he said.

“I haven’t heard a single thing about it (Bennett returning), I find out most things through the media, but it would be great to have him back.

“Look at what he has done. He is a great coach and I’d love to play under him.”