Wayne Bennett says the Titans risk selfdestructing if they bow to player power

BRONCOS coach Wayne Bennett believes the Titans will risk their own self-destruction if they bow to player power and sack Neil Henry.

Korbin Sims (left) and coach Wayne Bennett look on during the Brisbane Bronco's training session at Red Hill in Brisbane, Monday, Feb. 27, 2017. The Bronco's will play the Cronulla Sharks in the season opener on Thursday. (AAP Image/Dave Hunt) NO ARCHIVING

WAYNE Bennett has warned the Titans risk selfdestructing as a club if Gold Coast hierarchy bow to player power and sack besieged coach Neil Henry.

Bennett is the code’s longest-serving mentor and 40 years at the coaching coalface has given the seven-time premiership winner a rare perspective on the crisis enveloping Brisbane’s neighbour club the Titans.

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On the eve of tonight’s Broncos-Dragons clash at Suncorp Stadium, Bennett was reluctant to get involved in the Titans saga but he offered some sage advice to Gold Coast powerbrokers.

The Titans’ seven-person board is scheduled to convene next week for a meeting likely to herald the axing of Henry but Bennett flagged the perils of giving NRL players too much of a voice.

It’s expected that Thursday’s clash with Parramatta will be Neil Henry’s last with the Titans.

Interviews with 12 Titans players, conducted last week by CEO Graham Annesley, spotlighted a number of issues with Henry, chiefly his communication style, team selections and training methods.

“Every time you give players a headline, you give them more power,” Bennett said.

“Players can have their say, but if the club starts listening ... well they will be in a fair bit of trouble.

“It’s not for me to sit back in Brisbane and judge what other clubs are doing, I don’t spend time thinking about it at all.

“It (the scrutiny on Henry) goes with the territory.

“He is a seasoned coach, he has been around a long time now ... he has handled himself pretty well actually through this.”

Henry’s tense relationship with star recruit Jarryd Hayne is threatening to tear the Titans apart and the key to Bennett’s longevity lies in having the courage to make tough calls with big-name stars.

Bennett famously sacked Queensland legend Wally Lewis as Broncos captain in 1990. Last month, he told The Courier-Mail that Broncos forward Sam Thaiday had been informed he would not be handed another deal beyond next year.

Parramatta halfback legend Peter Sterling admits the Titans face a political headache with Hayne, lashing the $1 million recruit’s week-to-week performances.

“His performances haven’t lived up to being a marquee player and the wage that he is on,” he said on his Sterlo program on Fox League.

The Jarryd Hayne saga is tearing the club apart.

“The other top-class fullbacks like Darius Boyd, James Tedesco and Billy Slater ... when I watch their performances, they are busting their gut to get involved.

“I don’t see that enough in Jarryd, I don’t see effort-on-effort and I don’t see good body language.

“His performances have been poor in relation to the player that he was and I don’t know whether his best days are behind him.”

Broncos skipper Darius Boyd, a Gold Coast product from Palm Beach Currumbin, worked with Henry during their time together in the Queensland Origin set-up.

“I had Neil when he was an assistant at the Maroons. It was only a short time and it’s three games, but I liked Neil,” Boyd said.

“I thought he was a good coach, very tactical and he knew his stuff.

“But a club is bigger than one person. At the end of the day, it comes down to the team and their performances and having ownership of their individual performance. We’ve had games where we’ve been touched up but you need a strong mentality.”