The good cops - and the bad egg - who came together to change Wayne Bennett’s life forever

Forty years ago Wayne Bennett coached one of the most unusual rugby league teams imaginable. Robert Craddock and Peter Badel reveal how they kept Bennett from quitting - and saved him from his mother-in-law.

Wayne Bennett has had his toughest year but there was one special night when he floated back through time with some old maestros and mad dogs to relive the match that shaped his life.

Bennett was on stage with colourful forward John Elias at the 40-year anniversary of Brisbane Souths epic premiership win in 1985 when Elias was asked by master of ceremonies Pat Welsh to sum up the impact the super coach had on him.

“Well, before I joined Wayne at Souths I had been to jail,’’ quipped Elias.

“And after I left Souths I ended up in jail again so I’m sorry to say it but impact wise … nothing to speak of really.’’

Bennett smiled and had a faint chuckle, the equivalent of most people falling off their chairs and rolling down the aisle.

1985 Souths Brisbane rugby league team. Photo courtesy Roger Waite

He’s always had a deep-seated soft spot for Elias to the point that whenever a prison official rang to say “would you take a call from John Elias?’’ he always said yes, no matter how busy he was.

Bennett’s always had a special fascination with the code’s roughest diamonds and Elias’ man-of-the-match performance in the 1985 grand final convinced Bennett the players he needs most don’t get spat out of a cookie cutter.

Bennett’s Souths somehow managed to beat a rampant Wynnum-Manly side featuring Wally Lewis and Gene Miles 10-8 and, all these years later, as he returns to Suncorp this week with the “other’’ Souths - South Sydney - Bennett still regards it as one of the truly significant turning points of his life.

The 1985 Souths boys were a good cop-bad cop blend of men dressed in blue and men who loved a blue.

Wayne Bennett is back where it all began, in Brisbane. Artwork: Scott 'Boo' Bailey

They had Elias, who came north after an 18 month stint in Long Bay Jail for (he denies it) stabbing a bus driver, and a group of policemen including Bennett, Mal Meninga and the late Peter Jackson who tragically committed suicide at age 33.

A more oddball mix you have never seen yet they bonded so well that Jackson was the only player missing from the 40-year reunion at Davies Park this year where his wife and children attended in his honour.

Those that attended the night say you could feel the euphoric spirit of ‘85 floating through the venue and Welsh rated it one of the favourite events he had ever hosted.

“When I got here from Sydney (in 1985) and realised there were all these coppers in the team I thought I’d made a terrible mistake but it ended up being a blessing and the best 12 months of my rugby league career,’’ Elias told this masthead.

“Wayne was smart. I remember ringing him up once and saying if he did not pick me in first grade I would go back to Sydney because I’d just been clocked making 55 tackles in reserve grade.

“He said “we don’t do tackle counts in reserve grade … stop making things up.’’

There were two parts to Souths’ victory, the first being the acute devastation Bennett and his troops felt when they were annihilated 42-8 by Wynnum a year before in what Bennett described as the longest afternoon of his life.

So long in fact that photographers caught snaps of him regularly looking at the game clock willing it to move faster towards full-time.

“That was the most embarrassing game of my life,’’ Bennett said.

“I can remember leaving Lang Park and I was hiding in the back of the car and my mother-in-law who was sitting in the front said ‘why don’t you give up coaching’ and I said ‘I am better than this and I am not giving up’.’’

The agony was accentuated in bizarre ways. There were no mobile phones in those days but a serial prankster would ring Souths clubhouse at Davies Park on training nights the next season, pretending to be Wally Lewis and ask “just checking … have you guys scored a try yet?’’

It was silly stuff but it stung. At just 35 Bennett’s career was at the crossroads. The Souths board met and contemplated axing him and held tough only after marathon discussions and a promise from Bennett to change his ways – whatever that meant.

(L-R) John Elias and Wayne Bennett at Souths in 1985.

Bennett launched his own private revenge mission. He met with Essendon coach Kevin Sheedy who suffered the biggest loss in VFL history to Hawthorn in 1983 (93 points) but rebounded to beat the Hawks in the grand final the next year.

Sheedy urged Bennett to recruit tough men who would not be daunted by the aura of Wynnum-Manly and never call Wynnum “the team that thumped us.’’

So he lured flint hard Queensland lock Norm Carr out of retirement, Chris Phelan from Parramatta and Elias from Sydney as well even though he had no idea he had spent time in jail.

“Had I known John Elias spent time in prison before coming to Brisbane Souths, he would never have played for us,’’ Bennett wrote in Elias’ enchantingly-named autobiography, Sin Bin: The Untold Story of A True Footy Bad Boy.

“But what I didn’t know turned out to be the ultimate blessing in disguise. Because if John Elias didn’t play in the 1985 grand final, I’m prepared to say we wouldn’t have beaten Wynnum that afternoon.

John Elias, Norm Carr and Wayne Bennett at the Souths' 40-year reunion. Picture: Supplied.

“I had never encountered anyone quite like him before. He was the hot-shot gangster from the big city who’d come to teach us Brisbane yokels a few tricks.

“Everything about John is individual. I didn’t encounter another player with such self-belief until Wendell Sailor came along almost a decade later.’’

Bennett once said “every team member knew that we were to play 27 trial matches for D-Day’’ against Wynnum-Manly but he also knew it was important to not to show his full hand too early.

“The big thing about that year was that Wayne knew we could only beat Wynnum once,’’ said fullback Gary Belcher, one of the team’s key weapons.

“It had to be in the grand final and it had to be perfect. If we beat them earlier they would be ready for us in the grand final.’’’

For Bennett, the sweetness of the win was enhanced because of his affection for the ground which remains to this day.

Happy memories for Norm Carr as he holds the Winfield Cup after Souths grand final victory over Wynnum Manly in 1985. Picture: Courier Mail Archives

“I’ve always loved that ground. I remember I was a police cadet. I used to be at Petrie Terrace at the police barracks there. I promised myself I’d go out every day on the veranda and you could see down onto old Lank Park.

“I’d look down there and I promised myself I’d play down there. I wanted to play at Lang Park. I’ve probably been there over 300 times now at least. I don’t know, maybe 400, maybe 500. I’ve never fallen out of love with the place. I’ve been very blessed to be able to be there that many times as a player and as a coach in Brisbane and coaching the Broncos.

“I was only about 12 or 13 when I first went there with my uncle Eddie Brosnan. He played for Australia too. He brought a district team to town to play Roma as a curtain raiser before a Test match. I promised myself that day I’d be back but I didn’t realise I’d come back as a police cadet for a start. I remember going back on the bus after that game, I just wanted so much to play at Lank Park.’’

Barely any newspaper tipsters tipped Souths to beat Wynnum though the Daily Sun’s Errol Harris boldly and correctly declared “Souths have been on a little secret mission towards this game for 12 months and will do whatever they have to win.’’

Wayne Bennett after Souths' win in the 1985 grand final.

At the post-match press conference a smiling Bennett looked at Harris and said “you knew hey … you knew … you picked it … a secret mission … I guess that was what it was.’’

Belcher said the impact on Bennett’s career was enormous.

“It’s funny but people ask him about the most important grand finals he has won and for all of his successes at the Broncos he still says Souths in ‘85.

“It was a massive turning point. It justified the way he went about things. He thought he knew the right way to coach. The way to get the best out of people. That just put the exclamation mark on it. Do it this way and you can achieve anything.

“It was a huge moment in our lives and still is. The confidence and self-belief you get out of something like that stays with you forever.’’

Originally published as The good cops - and the bad egg - who came together to change Wayne Bennett’s life forever