NRL 2023: The fire that fuels Wayne Bennett’s feud with the Broncos

When Wayne Bennett and his Dolphins face off against their big Brisbane brothers the Broncos the veteran coach will be playing for more than just competition points writes Paul Kent.

Wayne Bennett and Kevin Walters.

Keen observers would have noticed the ice that flows through the veins of Wayne Bennett got a little chillier through the week.

The fall in temperature came as the Brisbane Broncos were set to kickstart their season, important for several reasons beginning with the fizzle from last season that cost a place in the top eight but also because a strong year is needed restore the Broncos reputation as the big dog in Brisbane given the birth of these Dolphins and, also, that the Broncos are coached by Bennett’s second favourite son, Kevvie Walters, who is pushing to remain gainfully employed.

First place is reserved for Alfie, by the way.

Yet just as the Broncos were focusing on footy Bennett gutted them again, signing two young men the Broncos were desperate to keep, Thomas Flegler and Herbie Farnworth.

It was cold, a strategic move from Bennett, and it left no doubt that whatever hope the two clubs had of existing in harmony, a united front against the evil forces of Sydney, were done.

The Dolphins’ raid was an old strategy. It was most effectively used when Manly raided South Sydney in the early 1970s, bringing over the likes of Ray Branighan and John O’Neill to take them to premiership success.

Wayne Bennett and Kevin Walters.

At the same time as strengthening your own roster, Manly worked out, you weaken your strongest opponent.

The Sea Eagles were at it again by the end of the decade, signing Les Boyd, John Dorahy and Ray Brown from minor premiers Western Suburbs.

Bennett is not only strengthening his own club but going after the hearts and minds in Brisbane.

This is all basic stuff for Bennett.

He has played the politics of rugby league better than any coach I know not named Bob Fulton, hiding in plain sight, like all good spies.

For years Bennett was seen as the wise old sage type, a man above the petty jealousies that pollute the NRL while he went on with the simple job of coaching.

But the crown has slipped somewhat in recent years as life did a complete spin for the coach.

Wayne Bennett did not leave the Broncos graciously. Picture: AAP Image

It began when former Broncos chief executive Paul White did a study of major coaches around the world and their ages and capabilities and he realised Bennett was old, apparently a quick glimpse wasn’t enough, and that the Broncos had best begin a succession plan with Bennett moving on sooner rather than later.

Chairman Karl Morris, parachuted in from Ballymore, was on board.

Bennett was offered an ambassador role, and then some head of football job that looked grand in title but was light on detail, and he was immediately suspicious.

In his head he was thinking, who are they to tell me about footy?

He saw himself being moved on in part to help the ambitions of other men.

Sometime after, Bennett was home when Mick Ennis flew to Brisbane to interview him for Fox Sports with Bennett’s friend and official biographer, Fox Sports’ boss Steve Crawley, there to smooth the way.

Bennett was thinking about his future, wherever that might be, but on his terms. Ennis was hoping to get the exclusive, but it didn’t go to plan.

Bennett had had a small medical procedure so was sitting uncomfortably and was in no real mood for the interview.

“You know they’ve spoken to Bellamy,” Crawley said to him after a bit.

Bennett’s head popped up.

“Really?” he said. “I didn’t know that.”

Whatever the Broncos had planned for Bennett, he didn’t trust a syllable after that.

It was a slight he felt acutely.

Given Bennett’s contribution to the club, he felt insulted. One thing he knew, it wouldn’t have happened like this if the likes of Porky Morgan were still running the club.

How would Morris, whose background is rugby union, know what’s best for Bennett, a 30-year coach?

What they might still be trying to grasp is why.

It was a complete misunderstanding of the animal inside Bennett, which exists in all winning coaches.

He might look like grandad nowadays, but the competitive streak burns bright.

And as only coaches know, no slight is too small.

For years Bennett had a long running rivalry with former coach Brian Smith, one born when Bennett’s Broncos beat Smith’s Dragons in the 1992 and 1993 grand finals and which has survived ever since.

Somewhere along the line Bennett began to enjoy it.

And somewhere Smith realised it.

Smith was miserable and couldn’t figure out how his teams, often better coached, more often ended up on the wrong side of the scoreline.

One of Bennett’s peculiarities is that he rarely likes to shake hands with people, even in pre-Covid days.

He rarely liked to shake hands with Smith and often did all he could to avoid it. Smith, no fool himself, worked it out, sometimes after he realised a Bennett-Smith game had more than the usual spice.

Anthony Seibold felt the wrath of Bennett. Picture: AAP Image

So after games Smith would walk up on Bennett’s blindside, Bennett would sense a presence and turn and find Smith standing there, with his hand out.

Bennett hated it.

It was a power game between the two.

In reality, the handshake meant little to either man, but the game within the game was power, Smith getting the handshake and Bennett trying to avoid it.

That game of power is something Bennett plays better than most.

It was easy in the beginning when Brisbane was a one-team town and as the head coach he naturally assumed all the power, or at least most of it.

Over the years it only increased.

And from the moment he was ridden out of town by the Broncos he has rarely missed an opportunity, no matter how subtle, to tickle them up.

When he swapped jobs with Anthony Seibold – Bennett going to Souths and Seibold to Brisbane – the new Broncos coach quickly found himself in a small PR war.

Poor Seibold went into the job thinking he was three lengths ahead and quickly found himself four lengths behind and off the bit.

As Bennett played the Broncos against their own paranoia, Seibold constantly checking over his shoulder like a baby kitten, Bennett smirked through the side of his mouth and waited until the next time, which was just when they relaxed.

Now, as Dolphins coach, the game becomes real when they play their first game Sunday against the Sydney Roosters at Suncorp, with the Broncos just three more weeks away and all of Brisbane up for ownership.

Revenge is not an emotion normally associated with Bennett.

In the Book of Wayne it fails to get a mention, even in the footnotes, but it lives.

* * * * *

THE basic idea of putting football games on television, from the football side of the argument, is to bring as many eyeballs to the game as possible and grow revenue and fans, preferably in equal size.

It takes time, but the track record suggests it is a sound logic.

The television people hope to get enough eyeballs to justify the price they paid.

Why then does Thursday night football not kick off at a time that actually discourages viewers?

The 8.05pm kick-off is too late.

It is on a night when many of those kids the NRL is hoping to attract have school the next morning, homework they can’t put off, and many of their parents have their own responsibilities that can make viewing a hardship.

Nine’s reason, unofficially at least, is that it needs the nightly news to end, then a half hour of A Current Affair for reasons everybody is afraid to explain, and then a half-hour lead-in to the game so they can get three ad-breaks away.

With the free-to-air channels all now having other channels to televise their programs why doesn’t the NRL insist on bringing the game forward and making Nine – or whoever the free-to-air provider is showing the game in the future – broadcast the game at an earlier more suitable timeslot?

Thursday was a strong performer in the ratings, and mostly because the game went to the 80th minute and then into golden point.

But the moment the contest is over and a team looks a winner, people head to bed.

Surely the game shouldn’t have to wait for A Current Affair to clear out.