Do the Brisbane Broncos owe anything to Wayne Bennett?
MUCH has been written and said about what the Broncos owe Wayne Bennett, but the supercoach is just being pushed out by the same methods he has used in the past writes PAUL KENT.
Broncos
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IT broke as the perfect rugby league story for our time; Brisbane officials secretly plotting to replace Wayne Bennett even as he prepared to celebrate his record 800th game as coach.
Nobody else even has 700.
And nothing says NRL quite like that.
Bennett is the giant in his field.
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He has coached uninterrupted in the NRL since 1987, when his name was not even in the program. He assisted Don Furner even though everybody knew he did all the coaching.
He has done a lot and given a lot to the Broncos, who now seek to replace him.
“From an outsider looking in, this looks messy. Not a lot of respect has been shown to Wayne Bennett,” Chris Johns said.
Glenn Lazarus, another former Broncos great, disagreed.
“Disrespecting Wayne Bennett because we’re saying the Broncos want to replace him with Craig Bellamy — there’s no disrespect there, mate,” Lazarus told the Telegraph.
“Coaches get treated like this all the time if they’re under the pump by the media, clubs and the fans.
“Why would Wayne Bennett be any different? It just irks me. He should just suck it up.
“I know he just coached his 800th game but, as I say, as a head coach at the Broncos, he’s done his bit in getting rid of people, which was all played out in the media.
“Yes he’s a wonderful coach and has had great success but that’s the industry — coaches, players, administrators are all shafted at any given time.”
This idea of Bennett being owed something is interesting.
What is he owed?
It can’t be money, he will earn more than a million dollars this year to coach a football team.
It can’t be his loyalty to the Broncos.
He famously did a secret deal with Sydney Roosters chairman Nick Politis to coach the Roosters in 2006, taking Ron Massey with him to meet Politis on a Saturday morning.
When news of the secret deal broke he called Roosters chief executive Brian Canavan at the time and told him to tell Politis to “stay solid”.
It punctures the myth that the deal was dependant on the condition it did not break in the media.
Days later, though, he called Canavan to tell him he was out.
Massey, a handshake deal man, said he had to tell Politis himself.
Bennett finally called Politis. Massey did not talk to him for some months afterwards.
Bennett later coached at St George Illawarra and Newcastle and went deep into talks to coach South Sydney before landing back in Brisbane.
Earlier this season, as speculation mounted that Paul Green was being sounded out to replace him, Bennett wondered privately why now, in his final years, his legacy was being attacked.
It was an odd statement.
Legacy is to be measured when careers are over. Not to be shaped while still in progress.
As a current coach, earning top dollar, the only consideration Bennett could ask is on his performance. Loyalty is to results, rules Bennett understands as well as anybody.
One of the more famous stories in the Bennett back catalogue is the time he sacked Wally Lewis.
Lewis is Queensland’s great champion.
He was the Maroons’ Origin captain and would become the sixth Immortal. Young Wallys were being born all over Queensland, in spirit if not name.
Yet as Bennett made Lewis walk the backlash was such Broncos fans circulated a petition calling on the Broncos to sack Bennett instead and a meeting was organised.
There, club boss Paul Morgan took the stage and declared, in bold voice, that Bennett would be offered the job for life.
Take that, he was saying.
Later, even Lewis realised it was a public relations war he could not win.
Bennett has always asked to be judged by his performance. It gave weight to his reputation of fairness. Added a polish to the legend.
An important lesson he learned off Furner, one he often quoted, was never get rid of a player unless you had a better one to replace him.
It was a tough call but he made it as often as he believed necessary.
Another he advocated was to release a player a season too early rather than a season too late.
Both are all the Broncos are guilty of doing.
Replacing a good coach with one who is better, letting a 68-year-old coach go a season too soon rather than a season too late.
It is the nature of professional sport, where Bennett has earned his living for more than 30 years.
And nothing has changed.
“The person I also feel sorry for is Kevvie Walters,” Johns said this week.
“He has been led around like an idiot. He could have taken the Titans job but I’m sure he was under the impression he was being looked at in Brisbane’s succession plan.
“How can he be in Brisbane’s succession plan if they are looking at Craig Bellamy?”
Walters understood he was being groomed to replace Bennett when he knocked back approaches from the Gold Coast.
It got confirmed when he rejoined the coaching staff last October and Bennett was asked if Walters was capable of succeeding him as Brisbane coach.
“Absolutely,” he said. “I’m not going to go on forever so can Kevin be the next coach of the Broncos? Certainly he can.
“Kevvie and (assistant coach) Jason (Demetriou) are in the mix.
“Bringing Kevin on board helps us with our succession plan.
“Somewhere down the track, when I’m gone, hopefully he or Jason will coach the Broncos.”
Bennett now seems to have forgotten that support for a man who has been alongside him longer than anybody.
Bennett was part of the decision to overlook Walters in favour of Bellamy.
“I initiated it,” Bennett said Wednesday, explaining Paul White’s decision to go after Bellamy as their next coach.
“You’ve got to be honest in life. I didn’t want it unfolding without me having some control over it, without me being a part of it.
“I told Paul we want to get the best coach possible for this club.
“I was part of the discussion and I said we’d be silly not to look at Craig who is coming off contract.”
That Bennett quietly steered the club towards Bellamy in place of Walters surprises few.
The ground is always shifting.
MORE BOARDROOM DRAMAS AT PARRA
A LETTER has gone to NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian asking her to remove Max Donnelly from his role as temporary administrator and self-appointed chairman at Parramatta Eels.
The letter, drafted by a barrister, according to Parramatta Eels member Andrew Eagleston, also attributes much of the club’s failings to their current holding pattern.
Coach Brad Arthur was trying to sign Titans general manager of football Phil Moss to the role earlier this year but was shouted down by Donnelly and so far has been forced to go without.
The Eels had no major sponsor last season.
Members believe Donnelly’s inaction is now actually preventing the club from moving forward and hope the Premier will intervene.
It shows the Eels are a long way from bouncing back as fans hoped after the 2016 salary cap scandal, a position reinforced with this season’s performances which might have had no effect on the players but would have impacted on Arthur significantly.