Wayne Bennett curse strikes again as Kristian Woolf put under early pressure amid back-to-back losses

The Wayne Bennett curse has appeared to strike again with Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf already searching for answers.

A Kalyn Ponga clinic has seen the Dolphins start the season 0-2 as the Wayne Bennett curse appears set to strike again.

Since leaving his first coaching post at the Broncos at the end of 2008, the Bennett curse has existed within the rugby league world, with each and every coach that has taken over the top job from him struggling before being inevitably sacked.

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Coaches like Ivan Henjak (Broncos), Steve Price (Dragons), Rick Stone (Knights) and most recently Jason Demetriou (Souths) have all been sacked within three years of replacing the seven-time premiership-winning coach and could it be about to happen again?

It is something Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf will be desperate to avoid but the early signs are not good.

On Thursday night despite the arm wrestle in the early minutes, Woolf’s side were largely dominated.

In the early exchanges the Dolphins repeatedly kept the home side in the contest on the back of several dropped balls and penalties, opening the door for an early onslaught.

New Knights recruit James Schiller eventually opened the scoring after a routine shift, Junior Tupou firing off his wing at Kai Pearce-Paul before the lanky Englishman threw a basketball pass over the top for the ex-Raider.

The Wayne Bennett curse could be on track to claim another casualty. Image: Getty

What seemed a certain try for Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow to fire back was overturned after Felise Kaufusi obstructed Newcastle’s markers on halfway, opening the door for Schiller’s second.

A short-side play caught Tupou out again on the Phins’ left edge, Ponga drawing the former Tiger before sending Schiller over for an early double.

The KP masterclass continued through the opening stanza, sending both centres in Bradman Best and Dane Gagai over for their first four-pointers of the year to extend the lead to 20.

Mark Nicholls clawed the Dolphins back into the contest after crashing over on the back of a nice Isaiya Katoa show-and-go, sending the Redcliffe side into the sheds trailing 20-6.

The red-and-blue onslaught continued into the second period, young gun Fletcher Sharpe threw up a dummy-and-run of his own, beating one defender before finding Dylan Lucas on his outside to extend the lead back to 20 points.

Kristian Woolf will need to go back to the drawing board after back-to-back defeats. (Photo by Jason McCawley/Getty Images)

Sharpe had his name in headlights again minutes later, bursting through the line on the back of his blinding speed before kicking ahead for an unmarked Best outside him.

Except if you’re kicking past a fullback, the Hammer isn’t the man to do it against, the Kangaroo easily winning the race for the football.

A shifty solo try to Katoa kept the Queensland club in the contest, sneaking between middle forwards in Mat Croker and Tyson Frizell to cut the deficit to 26-12.

Pearce-Paul finished the game in the sin bin after the Bunker found a high shot from the back-rower in the previous set, again inviting the Dolphins back into the game.

However, a flurry of errors from Redcliffe put the nail in their own coffin, struggling against 12 men as a resilient Newcastle outfit secured the win in front of 18,512 diehard fans.

Set to face the Titans next week, it could lead to a red-hot start to the season for Newcastle as they aim to make the finals for the fifth in six seasons under Adam O’Brien.

– with NewsWire

Originally published as Wayne Bennett curse strikes again as Kristian Woolf put under early pressure amid back-to-back losses