Wayne Bennett still has power to attract stars, but it’ll cost the club in retaining promising young crop
HOW good are the Broncos going to be in a couple of years – and how much is it going to cost them? That’s the multimillion-dollar question, while there’s no doubt Wayne Bennett is still working his magic, writes Mike Colman.
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HOW good are the Broncos going to be in a couple of years – and how much is it going to cost them?
That’s the multimillion-dollar question, because this week’s signing of teenager Payne Haas shows Wayne Bennett definitely has his eyes on the future.
And by that, I mean his own future as well as the team’s.
If Broncos management needed any confirmation of how important Bennett is to their plans going forward, this was it.
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The comments by the kid’s father in Thursday’s The Courier-Mail could have been scripted by the master coach himself.
“Payne is really happy at the Broncos. Wayne has been great for him. Wayne Bennett is the key for Payne. He understands him. Payne won’t go anywhere as long as Wayne is around.”
Talk about a glowing job reference.
I’m not saying that Craig Bellamy, Kevin Walters or anyone else who has been mooted as the Broncos’ coach-in-waiting wouldn’t be able to get some of the game’s best young talent to sign on the dotted line, but it must be nice for Bennett to know that the old magic is still working.
Nice for Paul White to know too – although the signing of Haas might cause him some trouble over the next year or so.
The Broncos used to have a scaled payment system that players were expected to accept – and mostly did.
It meant that salaries worked like a pyramid. The club’s best player on top, two or three on the next level, four or five on the next and so on.
When an Alfie Langer or Darren Lockyer left, the next in line moved up, but not before. Players waited patiently until their time came.
It worked perfectly until Petero Civoniceva got leapfrogged and left to join the Panthers.
It would seem that peace has returned to the valley over the past few years, but the signing of Haas to a multimillion-dollar deal after just three first grade games will no doubt throw an awful big spanner into the works.
If Haas is worth $700,000 a season based on potential, what does that say about the value of Tevita Pangai Jr or Jaydn Su’A, two other youngsters who look to have the world at their feet? What about Joe Ofahengaue or Matt Lodge?
With those five young men in your pack for the next five years, you’d have to be confident of a premiership or two, but with Haas’s pay packet as the yardstick, you’d have to be Mandrake the Magician to fit them all under the salary cap along with the talent already locked in.
And that’s not even mentioning the elephant in the corner – the lack of a world class No.7.
There’s not much point having a great engine if you don’t have anyone to drive it.
Three top half-backs changed clubs at the start of this season. Cooper Cronk is on $625,000 a year, Mitchell Pearce on $1 million and Ben Hunt $1.2 million.
That’s the kind of money Paul White will have to find if he wants someone of that calibre.
Right now Broncos fans will be rejoicing at the signing of Haas.
Bennett will have that Cheshire cat smile of his knowing that he’s outsmarted the knockers once again.
And Paul White? He’ll be practising his magic tricks.
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Originally published as Wayne Bennett still has power to attract stars, but it’ll cost the club in retaining promising young crop