Hail King Benny: Lawn-mowing rugby convert stars in Wayne’s 900th coronation

You can keep King Charles, Wayne Bennett’s crown is sitting pretty as ever after his Dolphins conjured a stunning 36-16 demolition of premiership front-runners Cronulla to mark his 900th first grade match.

As the royal family marked the latest juncture in their history, rugby league’s most enduring figurehead masterminded one of the year’s more astounding carve-ups, the Dolphins rattling up 30 first-half points in as many minutes before keeping the Sharks at bay.

Cronulla came into the contest in second place and $1.25 favourites with the bookmakers. They left with marquee half Nicho Hynes and flyer Sione Katoa on report and little else to mention.

Bennett, meanwhile, had little interest in celebrating his milestone match all week, to the point he threatened to walk out on a pre-game press conference if questions about his achievements kept coming. He even said, well into his fourth decade of carrying a clipboard, that he’s “still not sure if I want to be a coach.”

Valynce Te Whare made an unforgettable debut for the Dolphins.Credit: Getty

For the highly touted rugby union convert Valynce Te Whare, who now sits only 899 appearances short of his coach, his first outing in bright lights finished with a brace of tries and a bit of brilliance.

Te Whare was mowing lawns at Redcliffe last year after being recruited from New Zealand.

When he stepped out at Suncorp Stadium, he chewed up and spat out three Sharks defenders, powering past some flimsy efforts from a standing start for a memorable maiden try.

As he always has with his prodigies and rising stars, Bennett offered little to pump up Te Whare tyres, aside from this nugget.

“I think [what] we’re going to find with Val is he’s a big-match player,” Bennett said.

“The bigger the occasion, the better he’ll play. There’s just some players that have that and it’s part of his DNA.”

His own milestone still got short shrift, though Andrew Abdo did present him with a mounted golden Steeden to mark the occasion. The resilience of a Dolphins outfit that continues to surprise eventually got the Super Coach talking and, to be fair, was the most compelling take-away of the night.

“We had three quality forwards out tonight and a couple of good backs missing,” Bennett said, having shifted Kodi Nikorima to centre when Euan Aitken was sidelined with a hamstring injury.

“We give guys a jersey and they get the job done. It’s quite remarkable. No one minds where they’re playing, they just want to be part of it.”

Bennett may have even cracked that Clint Eastwood smirk when it was Anthony Milford, one of the most maligned players he’s coached, who put a briefly threatened Cronulla comeback on ice.

Te Whare’s second try was put on a platter by Milford, who came off the bench, broke the line and then flicked a beauty out the back for the 22-year-old to score in front of a personal cheer squad that had flown in from New Zealand.

Nicho Hynes: “There’s a lot of things I could’ve done better.”Credit: Getty

Te Whare’s earlier try was the Dolphins’ third and came in just the 22nd minute. When Connelly Leumelu and Tesi Niu joined the scoresheet, the Dolphins had 30 points in as many minutes.

Cronulla did score two tries within four minutes but never truly threatened. Coach Craig Fitzgibbon could see the lesson in being out-enthused by the Dolphins, but Hynes was particularly despondent afterwards.

“I’m always shattered when we lose, I hate losing,” Hynes said. “I just can’t put a finger on why that happened and I take losses personally and there’s a lot of things I could’ve done better.”

For Bennett though, not a bad night to be a coach after all.

Stream the NRL Premiership 2023 live and free on 9Now.

Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.