NRL Market Watch: Wayne Bennett targets Broncos No.1, Eels superstar
Wayne Bennett has set his sights on two young stars to fill his 30-man Dolphins roster, including a Broncos whiz kid.
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Wayne Bennett is eyeing off Broncos fullback Tesi Niu and Parramatta grand-final pivot Dylan Brown as the Dolphins look to ramp-up a recruitment drive following their official entry to the NRL.
Bennett is keen to ignite an explosive rivalry with the Broncos and the ‘River City Rumble’ is set to intensify with the Dolphins putting out the welcome mat for Brisbane Test custodian Niu.
And the Dolphins won’t stop there, with Bennett outlining his interest in Kiwi Test star Brown, who became a free agent last week and will test his value on the open market when he returns home from World Cup duties.
The Dolphins have five spots still vacant on their 30-man full-time roster and Niu has rocketed into the recruitment frame for the new NRL franchise amid his uncertain future at the Broncos.
The Broncos kicked off their pre-season on Tuesday and Niu has been thrust into a three-way battle for the fullback spot with Herbie Farnworth and marquee recruit Reece Walsh.
Niu was Brisbane’s first-choice fullback last season but a series of hamstring injuries saw him struggle to nail down the position - and now Broncos Academy whizkid Walsh is back at Red Hill to claim the No.1 jumper.
Niu, currently in England at the World Cup with Tonga, is off-contract next season, but he could find himself on the outer at the Broncos if Walsh - as expected - wins the race for the hotly-contested fullback position.
Bennett said he has not had any contact with Niu at this stage, but the super coach confirmed he will consider throwing a lifeline to the Tongan representative if he falls behind Walsh and Farnworth at the Broncos.
Bennett has already poached two Broncos players - goalkicking winger or fullback Jamayne Isaako and former Queensland Origin centre Brenko Lee.
Asked if Niu is leaving the Broncos to join the Dolphins, Bennett said: “I know nothing about Tesi Niu, not to my knowledge.
“To my knowledge we haven’t negotiated with him or spoken to his management, but I would be open to him.”
Brown is another Test player in Bennett’s sights.
The 22-year-old could attract offers in excess of $800,000 a season and the Eels are facing a battle to retain the classy playmaker following his outstanding season in Parramatta’s surge to the grand final.
Speaking from England overnight, Brown refused to rule out a move to Queensland, labelling Bennett a “super coach”, and the 72-year-old says the Dolphins have the salary-cap funds to win any bidding war.
“It comes back to the quality of player and he (Brown) is a quality player,” Bennett said.
“I saw him play for New Zealand against Fiji a few days ago and I thought he played really well.
“If he goes to the open market and he wants to leave Parramatta, we will be interested.”
In August, Niu told News Corp he is up for the fight with Walsh in the battle for the Broncos’ No.1 jumper.
“I can’t wait for the competition,” he said.
“Reece is a good player, but if I have a good pre-season under my belt, hopefully I can stay at fullback.
“I will see what happens with the fullback spot. Reece is coming here and it will be good healthy competition.
“Fullback is my preferred position. Wherever ‘Kevvie’ (Broncos coach Kevin Walters) wants me to play, I’ll do my job for the team, but I do enjoy the space at fullback.”
BENNETT FANS FLAMES OF BRONCOS’ FEUD
Wayne Bennett has put the Broncos on notice, saying the birth of the Dolphins can deliver the NRL’s version of football’s mega Manchester United-Manchester City derby.
The Broncos’ 25-year monopoly in the Brisbane market is over with the arrival of the Dolphins to resurrect the River City rivalry that faded when the South Queensland Crushers folded following the Super League war in 1997.
The Broncos are the richest club in the NRL boasting a $53 million empire — but the Dolphins are primed to take on Big Brother and cultivate the most explosive rivalry in the NRL.
Bennett has enormous admiration for world football coaching icon Sir Alex Ferguson, who featured prominently in the Manchester United-Manchester City derbies that are a feature of the English Premier League calendar.
Now Bennett wants to help build a similar footballing feud in the NRL with the Dolphins and Broncos, a rivalry set to be stoked by the bitter Red Hill ‘Civil War’ of 2018 that led to his sacking as Brisbane coach.
“It’s hard to imagine it won’t be one of the great rivalries,” Bennett said of the Dolphins-Broncos showdowns.
“It will be driven by the fans.
“Two Brisbane clubs together ... it will be a bit like Manchester City and Manchester United and so many competitions around the world where you have that sort of derby.
“It creates huge interest. When the Crushers were here, we had 40,000 people turn up to games and they hadn’t won a game at that stage because everyone saw the local rivalry (against the Broncos).
“This (Dolphins versus the Broncos) will be great for the game.
“I hope it is like that, I want it to be that way.”
There were fears the Broncos would have their roster decimated by the Dolphins, but that hasn’t happened.
The Dolphins failed in their attempts to sign Pat Carrigan and Herbie Farnworth as the Broncos duo stayed loyal.
Only two Broncos players have defected to be foundation Dolphins top-liners, goalkicking winger or fullback Jamayne Isaako and former Queensland Origin centre Brenko Lee.
News Corp understands the first Broncos-Dolphins derby at Suncorp Stadium will take place in the first month of the 2023 NRL season, with the full premiership draw to be released later this week.
The Dolphins have come under fire for struggling to secure a franchise player — Cameron Munster, Kalyn Ponga and Harry Grant have all rejected the club — and Bennett admitted he has given up on snaring a marquee recruit for their debut season.
“We’re not expecting to get a marquee buy now,” said Bennett, who won six premierships at the Broncos.
“We’re in the marketplace for one, but we’re not expecting anything to fall out overnight.
“It could happen in the next week or month, who knows, the good part is the money is there (in the salary cap).
“We haven’t touched the money, we haven’t wasted the money, so if there is someone that genuinely does come on the market, it has to be the right fit for us.”
Dolphins CEO Terry Reader, who formerly worked at the Broncos, is relishing Bennett’s role in the NRL’s newest rivalry.
“People have joked about marquee signings. Our first ever signing was the coach and Wayne Bennett is a marquee signing,” Reader said.
“What Wayne has done for our club, not just in terms of putting together this squad but in the regions, what we have done in game development and academies, all the way from Rockhampton to Brisbane, it’s been huge.
“It’s a historic day, this is a first for the club.
“There will be the first game, the first training session, the first draw announcement and the first session when the whole squad comes together.
“We’re going to have a lot of firsts through the whole process.”
THE DOLPHINS CHATTER BENNETT WON’T TOLERATE
By Peter Badel
Wayne Bennett has blasted suggestions the Dolphins will win the wooden spoon as the super coach vowed to silence critics of the NRL’s new expansion franchise.
After 12 months on the sidelines, Bennett was back in business on a history-making day for the Dolphins, who officially kicked-off their debut pre-season on Monday ahead of their entry to the NRL in 2023.
Before a ball has been kicked, the Dolphins – lacking a marquee player after missing out on Cameron Munster – have already been written off as whipping boys.
The NRL’s 17th team have been installed by bookmakers as $101 long shots to win the premiership, while Bennett’s Dolphins are $3.25 favourites to clinch the wooden spoon in their debut season.
But Bennett will summon his 45 years of experience to muzzle the Dolphins doubters, vowing to dust off the coaching playbook that made the Broncos a title force to ensure Queensland’s fourth NRL club is competitive from day one.
“I’m not allowed to bet on rugby league, but if I was, I wouldn’t be betting on the Dolphins getting the wooden spoon,” said Bennett, the Broncos’ foundation coach who steered the club to six premierships.
Asked if building the Dolphins from Ground Zero is his greatest challenge in coaching, Bennett said: “No, it’s not.
“If you look at the script of what we did at the Broncos in 1988, it won’t be much different to what we do here in 2023.
“If you look at the players we have recruited, particularly the older players and their background, it gives you a pretty good idea of what we are chasing in regards to how we want to be seen.
“I don’t believe we will be there (in last position) ... it won’t happen.”
It was a momentous but low key debut day for the Dolphins.
Their first-ever training session kicked off around 8am on an adjacent field to Moreton Daily Stadium, with 15 players in attendance, the most notable being Parramatta recruit Ray Stone, who is on the comeback trail from a knee reconstruction.
The Dolphins’ top-line recruits remain away in England on World Cup duty, including key Melbourne premiership-winning trio Jesse and Kenny Bromwich and Felise Kaufusi, who was the club’s inaugural signing.
Stone did rehab work on his injured knee while Bennett’s high-performance chief Jeremy Hickmans took charge of the session, which featured a posse of rookies including promising hooker Harrison Graham.
Another young gun on deck was Valynce Te Whare, a 108kg centre powerhouse who impressed for Redcliffe in the Queensland Cup this season and has been tagged ‘Val Meninga’ with his bullocking frame.
While the Dolphins failed to snare Munster, Bennett is confident the Broncos’ new rivals will not be easybeats.
Aside from Kaufusi and the Bromwich boys, the Dolphins have also recruited Queensland Origin firebrand Tom Gilbert from the Cowboys and North Queensland speed machine Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow.
Former Broncos $1 million man Anthony Milford and Sean O’Sullivan will be the Dolphins’ first-choice halves and Bennett backed the Samoan Test pivot to resurrect his NRL career.
Milford produced a man-of-the-match performance to inspire Samoa’s 20-18 quarter-final defeat of Tonga on Monday morning to power his nation to the World Cup semi-finals.
“I was pleased for ‘Milf’ because it’s a game that gives him more confidence,” Bennett said.
“I am optimistic Anthony will come back with a lot of confidence he has lacked in the last few years and when we start next year, we can build on that.”
Bennett will not have his full 30-man squad on deck until January 5, but is confident the Dolphins will have sufficient time to be ready for their planned round-one blockbuster against the Roosters in March.
The 72-year-old, however, has been around too long to predict the Dolphins will win a premiership within five years.
“That is cheap talk,” he said.
“The bottom line is we will start the competition with everybody else next year, have a plan in place about how we want to be perceived and the young men will buy into that.
“It will be a process.
“Whether it takes five years or 10 years (to win a premiership) who knows?
“If you get the process right, you are a lot closer to success.”
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