Just like Wayne Bennett, Nathan Brown has to own his results after his rebuild at Newcastle — and take responsibility for it
They still blame Wayne Bennett for the mess Nathan Brown is leaving in Newcastle - but closer examination reveals the truth is something far different writes PAUL CRAWLEY.
Knights
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Nathan Brown was at lengths at his resignation announcement to claim he has done his job of carrying out a desperately needed Newcastle rebuild.
And he made a particular point of backhanding Wayne Bennett in a masked reference to him as a “selfish coach”, joining the five-year chorus blaming Bennett for the so-called mess he left the club in.
Now let’s talk about the legacy Brown leaves behind, which in a snapshot is the best Knights roster since Andrew Johns retired in 2007 — yet will likely not make the finals and seem to lack heart and unity.
It seems to be the conversation no one really wants to have because Brownie is such a good bloke.
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But you just had to listen to the heartless and immature responses from Mitchell Pearce and Kalyn Ponga last week to know this is a club whose culture has gone down the toilet.
Yet Pearce and Ponga, along with David Klemmer, were the three highest paid players Brown parachuted in to take this club forward.
These are now the leaders of the four-year rebuild new rookie coach Adam O’Brien will inherit.
Like many, I feel sorry for Brown because of the way he was undermined from within.
But that is not to say Newcastle fans should be feeling any more confident about the direction the club is heading than when Bennett departed.
Sure, with the backing of the powerful Newcastle Wests Group, the Knights are in a far better financial position than when Nathan Tinkler went broke.
But it is not even an argument in my opinion that under Bennett’s watch Newcastle played with more passion and pride than this current mob has during the second half of the season.
In 2013 Newcastle finished one game short of the grand final after Danny Buderus was knocked out cold when running into Jared Waerea-Hargreaves’ forearm in the preliminary final.
The following year the Knights encountered more dramas than any footy team could be expected to cope with. From key signing Russell Packer going to jail followed by the tragedy of Alex McKinnon’s broken neck and to cap it all off Tinkler went down the drain.
Yet even after all that, when Bennett announced he was leaving they still went out and won seven of their last 10 games.
This year, with everything going for them including an Origin fullback, a NSW halfback and three Origin middle forwards (including Klemmer, Tim Glasby and Daniel Saifiti), they have now lost eight of their past 10 games, culminating in last weekend’s capitulation against Wests Tigers.
Only last week when Brown fell on his sword he fired another bullet straight at Bennett.
“There is always going to be new jobs for people like me because there’s plenty of selfish coaches that make short-term decisions and ruin footy clubs,” Brown said.
“There’ll be another club that’ll have an old roster that’s been ruined and someone will get me to come in and try and fix it up because that’s the job that I do.”
I’ve said it before and I will say it again, the fact that gets conveniently written out of Newcastle’s history by Brown and all those who continue to want to blame Bennett is that it was Rick Stone who Brown followed into the job, not Bennett.
And it was a series of ridiculous signings made under Stone that really created the majority of salary cap mess.
Yes, under Bennett, Akuila Uate and Jarrod Mullen were two players in particular that were handed lucrative long term deals that went pear-shaped.
But it was under Stone that Chris Houston was given a whopping upgrade before a golden handshake to head to England, while the Mata’utia brothers were all signed on ridiculous money to keep Canterbury from pinching Sione.
Stone also signed Trent Hodkinsion on one leg for a reported $700,000 a season and at the same time paid out Tyrone Roberts, while Kade Snowden was also given a new two-year deal before being retired.
Stone also sent BJ Leilua packing while it was Brown’s call to let go of Dane Gagai and a young Joe Tapine, who would have stayed for similar money it took to sign an ageing Aidan Guerra.
So many players have come and gone under Brown’s watch you just can’t name them all.
But of those brought to the club it is very hard to say many have really taken their game to another level under Brown’s coaching with Ponga the most obvious exception.
And then there are some really strange recruitment decisions.
Like bringing in Kurt Mann to play dummy half when he’d never really played hooker previously and Mann’s hardly had any time there this year.
Connor Watson was another young star on the rise at the Roosters but he just hasn’t found a regular home at the Knights.
And then we go back to the senior leaders who are now in charge of creating the culture going forward.
I am also concerned for O’Brien given the lack of support Brown has obviously received from his boss Phil Gardner in recent times.
Gardner keeps denying any deal has been done with O’Brien or that he played any part in talks leading up until this point.
I guess truth about that will be known soon enough.
LISTEN! On the Matty Johns podcast, Matty lets fly on the crisis engulfing his former club the Newcastle Knights, and the team look at the best NRL rivalries and recall some of their favourite interview moments.
The Wests Group may have finally given the Knights the financial stability they have been desperately chasing since their 1988 inception, which Tinkler gave them false hope they had achieved. That’s an off-field gift of gold.
But when it comes to football business and performance, and smart leadership?
You only had to listen to chief executive Gardner talk this week to know that while he is obviously a shrewd businessman his football IQ is limited. And his sincerity in explaining what had gone down here is certainly questionable.
His main go-to point in all his rhetoric has been what a wonderful man is the coach he was happy to punt, and Brown has reciprocated in a sycophantic love-fest.
Gardner has to take a lot of responsibility for the appalling way this whole sorry saga has played out because an NRL coach is nothing without the unequivocal backing of his boss and his board.
But in saying that Brown cannot be absolved from his share of what he leaves behind.
Just like Bennett, in this game you own the results - and take responsibility for it.