Crawley Files: Inside Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett’s biggest rugby league gambles
In a remarkable 50-year career, Wayne Bennett has taken plenty of successful risks. Paul Crawley dives deep into Bennett’s genius, and how he keeps hitting the jackpot.
NRL
Don't miss out on the headlines from NRL. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Wayne Bennett rarely has a bet. If he goes to the races with his players he might throw a few dollars on a horse just to be social.
But he’s not exactly what you’d call a big-time gambler.
Yet where Bennett has done his biggest punting in life is on proving his many critics wrong.
Like the Phil Goulds of the world who said Darren Lockyer would never make it as a five-eighth. Or Joey Johns and the rest who seemed convinced Bennett was wasting his time trying to convert Latrell Mitchell into a fullback.
Some of Bennett’s biggest victories have been going against the odds and backing his own judgment.
NOTHINGS TO DOLPHINS
The thing about this Dolphins squad is that almost every player assembled has been a gamble of some sort.
Mark Nicholls was a reserve grader before Wayne Bennett turned him into a regular NRL player.
He had managed just 27 games in five seasons before linking up with Bennett at South Sydney, and has gone on to play 134 games. Last week he was the stand-in captain for the Dolphins in the absence of Jesse Bromwich as they produced another epic upset.
With the game on the line in the 72nd minute, Nicholls made four tackles from dummy half with the enthusiasm of a teenager as he refused to get beat.
Sean O’Sullivan was only considered a back-up half everywhere he went.
Jamayne Isaako bounced around unwanted at Brisbane and the Gold Coast last year, but has become a tryscoring phenomenon on the wing for the Dolphins.
Tesi Niu was another Broncos reject.
Kurt Donoghoe wasn’t even a reserve grader at Newcastle when the Dolphins found him.
The Bromwich brothers and Felise Kaufusi were thought to be accepting the superannuation package at Redcliffe when they left the Storm.
Isaiya Katoa was a gun Panthers junior but considered nowhere near ready for first grade.
SWEET AND SOWARD
When he took a punt on Jamie Soward at the Dragons when most thought Soward was a talented player but a speed hump in defence who didn’t have the heart to cut it at the top level.
He just sent Soward out with a clear head and backed him to play his natural game, while leaving the running of the St George Illawarra team to Ben Hornby and Dean Young on the way to the Dragons’ 2010 premiership.
COMEBACK FOR THE AGES
And when Alfie Langer came back from England at 35 and guided Queensland to one of the greatest Origin upsets in history back in 2001.
When that story first broke everyone thought Bennett had gone stark raving mad.
Yet what Bennett knew that the critics didn’t is that every time he had ever backed Alfie and gave him his trust the little genius always thrived on the challenge.
He did the same, 19 years later, with Queensland’s “worst-ever team”.
Bennett won a grand final with the Broncos in 2006 after plucking Shane Perry from the Brisbane competition where he was playing for Redcliffe and made him the halfback, while moving Shaun Berrigan to hooker. From there the Broncos were unstoppable.
NAILING THE HAMMER
And then when the Cowboys thought Scott Drinkwater was a better option at fullback ahead of Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Bennett signed the “Hammer” and told him straight up he’d be his No.1 this season and look how he’s gone.
Come Thursday night when the Dolphins take on Bennett’s former Rabbitohs, the showdown between Mitchell and Tabuai-Fidow will have the crowd at Suncorp on the edge of their seats.
But if it wasn’t for Bennett, we might be looking for another match-up to sell this game on.
THE BENNETT PHILOSOPHY
And if Bennett had listened to his critics, he himself would have given up coaching long ago.
Yet, at 73, he’s probably coaching as good now as he ever has, with pretty much the same philosophies he’s carried with him his entire life.
He builds relationships with his players on trust and commitment, and where some other coaches might buckle to the criticism like what preceded the Dolphins’ arrival into the big time this season after failing to sign a marquee man, Bennett stands his ground.
“The thing with these decisions, if you know what you’re doing, you’ve got to be prepared for the criticism for one, and you’ve got to be prepared to spend the time that it is going to take to get them where you want them to go,” Bennett explained.
“And if you can’t handle the criticism, well, don’t do it. But if you can handle the criticism take your time in doing it so you get the complete package.
“If you let it get to you halfway through doing it, and you walk away, it destroys his confidence about the belief you supposedly had in him, and it is never the same again.”
It’s a coaching standard Bennett lives by.
This season he sat the Dolphins down before the start of the season and promised them to a man he would not change the squad over the first month of the season, regardless of how they went.
He didn’t want them going out thinking if they didn’t perform he would drop them like a hot potato, and through that he won their trust, and they earned his.
It now has the Dolphins sitting fourth on the NRL ladder with the Rabbitohs 10th.
Yet hardly anyone will give the Dolphins a chance when they take the field again this week.
People on the outside often view Bennett as a miracle worker.
Yet what makes him a coaching legend is more to do with good old-fashioned coaching principles that he has staked his career on.
SMILES APART
I told him during the week how I thought I’d never seen him smile more than he has this season coaching the Dolphins, and how he looked like a proud father sitting beside Nicholls in the media conference after the Dolphins upset over the Cowboys.
Bennett conceded: “No, I probably haven’t (smiled as much), but it is hard to be unhappy with those boys.
“It is hard to find fault in them and I don’t go looking for fault.
“It’s just everything I believe in they believe in, and they just go out and have a go.
“It’s a belief thing.”
One of Bennett’s favourite sayings over the years has been if you commit to being the best you can be, you will be absolutely amazed at what you can achieve.
But the key word in the statement is whether you are prepared to commit?
Because, as Bennett sees it, commitment and promises have two entirely different meanings.
By his reckoning if you promise something you have just sold yourself a lie because if/when it gets too tough, you have given yourself an out.
Whereas if you commit to something you know there is no fallback.
You either do it, or you don’t.
There can be no excuse.
And it’s not about gambling, but backing yourself.
It’s the reason that after coaching a record 892 NRL games, Bennett is still where he is today.
More Coverage
Originally published as Crawley Files: Inside Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett’s biggest rugby league gambles
Cleary yet to confirm grand final heartbreak
A key Panther has proven his fitness in time to face the Storm, but the coach was staying coy over the man to miss out.
Singo’s monster punt on NRL grand final
The high-profile businessman and renowned punter has a whole lot of reasons to want Penrith to get up on Sunday.