NEWS Bennett to Broncos: you can all get fucked

[Huge]

Agreed. I really doubt Jack Bird would have been here if Bennett didn't push for it. Its funny because in the Courier Mail article Bennett takes credit and avoids responsibility at the same time. He mentions all the great players he left at the Broncos but then when the Jack Bird signing is brought up he mentions all the people who have to sign off on the decision. There is no acknowledgment 'I made a mistake on that one'.

Is it a mistake or misfortune?

 

[Huge]

We all know why Bennett is saying this. Whether it is true or not (and I highly doubt it is all true) it is a ploy to take the heat off his own team that is struggling (with a far better squad mind you).

For example Bennett mentions we have 12 Origin & Test players.

Here they are:

Boyd - retired from Origin & wouldn’t be picked anyway unless there was a massive injury toll.
Milford - 2 Origins. 1 from the bench.
Issako - I reckon some fans would even say, “oh really? he’s played for NZ. WoW!” Hardly a Kiwi mainstay.
Oates - A fringe Origin player at the moment.
Bird- Injured and we’d be in a far better position if he was healthy.
Te’o. Out of the game for 6 years.
Luke - When did he last play for NZ?
Haas- Played 1 Origin.
Fifita - 1 origin series, currently injured.
Glenn - Genuine test player, but for how much longer?
TPJ - Test quality. Spends half the season suspended.

It is a catchy line, but it’s not like in Bennett’s prime when he legitimately had 12 current, experienced and entrenched Origin players.

Well, he was talking about a time in the past so all those players were fresher then.

 

[abashii]

Bottom line is currently our team is a lot better on paper than it is on the field.
The big question is why?

It's a combination of the coach, who I truly believe just isn't up to the task, and the board/management. The coach may or may not have inherited a garbage roster which needed to be burned to the ground, we'll put that aside for a moment. Bench management, using our last interchange to swap fullbacks with 15 to go, ball runners standing still, no decoys, no plans? That's the coach.

The way management went about getting rid of Bennett varies from ridiculous to disgraceful. All the turmoil and bullshit that went on, it doesn't help build the team. Bringing in the new guy after he sooks in the media about the old guy doesn't help build the team. Shanking the old guy on the way out the door out of either spite or the urge to save a few shekels, that doesn't help build the team. There's a bit of a pattern emerging here. The people who pushed all this apparently don't give a warm toss about the team as long as the books are in the black. And that's honestly not the Broncos I grew up with.

But in case people have switched off listening to a cranky sweary old hack who just loooves old man Wayne maybe these words from someone you should respect might ring truer:

When front office and corporate become the priority within a sporting organisation, with the actual sport a distant second, this unrest is the result.

 

[heartly87]

He was responding to a supposed clearing of the roster by siebold. A comment made by white suggesting Bennet gave us the current problems.
The point is, look at any roster and there are players on the decline and others that are diamonds in the dust.
Pretending three seasons on, this team's current predicament is due to Bennet flies in the face of logic.
As for bird, people forget he was a perceived long term player for NSW and deem on par, if not superior to the likes of of Holmes and Munster.
Imagine if holbrook lost on the weekend and mal started bring up the coach from 3 years previous.
We need to look at the 17 players, the people that train them and strategies for answers because throwing out excuses such as a bad roster is not only irrelevant but absolutely pathetic.

I say wrong. WB is dodging the obvious. He absolutely did nothing to improve our spine while he was here. One could argue the Spine he inherited from hook was far superior to the one he left Seibs and in fact the team he inherited from Hook was also far superior and still we lost a GF and then steadily declined from there. We had Thaiday and Glenn covering hooker when macca got injured, we had one aging fullback with no succession planning. Our 5/8 had 3 halfs partners who all copped the blame for the pairs poor performances. Our young half back was just gifted to the Titans and we were left with Knick/milf combo, that was diabolical.

Everyone and their dog knows it was our spine that needed fixing when Seibs came in. He attempted to have Knick move to the hooking role but he spat the dummy and was allowed to go to the Warriors (nobody in the media is being honest about this now, it was his choice). There was also three horrendous contracts in the spine being Boyd, Milf and Macca's. All to long and overpriced. This is our biggest issue still, we have poor fullback stock, poor hooker stock and our halfs can't direct a game or call shot. This is nothing new, go back and look at old threads pertaining to our halfs. It has been an issue since 2017 late 16. The Broncos were relying on individuals to win games for a long time, apart from 2015-16 our spine has been bog average with creating and finishing.

The whole this club has 12 internationals and Origin players is total crap, claiming people who have had one game at Origin level or play at 18-19 for tier 2 international teams is a straw man and Wayne knows it. It is key positions that matter and when you have 30-40% of your cap tied up in injured, under performing and over the hill players you have major issues.

 

[Kovik]

Last year was in no shape or form as good as the year before.

The end result was exactly the same. Bundled out in embarrassing fashion in the first week of the finals. For memory, Seibold went one position better at the end of the regular season. I wouldn't bet on that but if not, it was close.

 

[Kovik]

I'd agree for the most of that except if you look at the 1, 6, 7, 9 and 13, 3 are playing regular first grade, and the other 2 are permanent fixtures in our side. One of them continues in the same role.
Contrary to any perception, there is no reason to play a player on a high contract.
If the coach doesn't have that power, he shouldn't be coach and the people that appointed him shouldn't have their jobs.
There has never been a successful sporting organisation whose coach was micromanaged.
The only say the board should have in a coach's conduct is whether he continues as coach and that decision should happen at season's end. That said if there are irresistible differences between players and coaching staff, that can expedite things. But that is something only club insiders should know.

In hindsight it would have been wise to keep Macca, McGuire and to let go of Milford before Nikorima even if it meant paying a very large % of Milford's salary to play elsewhere for 2 years. That's why they say hindsight is a wonderful thing.

I've never been a big fan of Milford because I believed as he got older, bigger and slower, his running game was going to suffer. His playmaking ability has always been average at best but even I would have flipped out if he got rid of Milford rather than Nikorima when he did.

Obviously McGuire should have been kept rather than Ofahengaue but as I said about hindsight.

Other than that, are you talking about Opacic? The guy is a fringe NRL player. He probably won't be in the Cowboys team when they get Morgan and Holmes back.

 

[Battler]

Souths have gotten worse under Bennett and we’ve gotten worse under Seibold.

Cook is regressing like Milf did under Bennett’s tutelage. His obsession with trying to make them more complete players hurt their running games and made them less effective.

 

[Porthoz]

Someone please call a Waaaaambulance, people are picking on the messiah!

I say wrong. WB is dodging the obvious. He absolutely did nothing to improve our spine while he was here. One could argue the Spine he inherited from hook was far superior to the one he left Seibs and in fact the team he inherited from Hook was also far superior and still we lost a GF and then steadily declined from there. We had Thaiday and Glenn covering hooker when macca got injured, we had one aging fullback with no succession planning. Our 5/8 had 3 halfs partners who all copped the blame for the pairs poor performances. Our young half back was just gifted to the Titans and we were left with Knick/milf combo, that was diabolical.

Everyone and their dog knows it was our spine that needed fixing when Seibs came in. He attempted to have Knick move to the hooking role but he spat the dummy and was allowed to go to the Warriors (nobody in the media is being honest about this now, it was his choice). There was also three horrendous contracts in the spine being Boyd, Milf and Macca's. All to long and overpriced. This is our biggest issue still, we have poor fullback stock, poor hooker stock and our halfs can't direct a game or call shot. This is nothing new, go back and look at old threads pertaining to our halfs. It has been an issue since 2017 late 16. The Broncos were relying on individuals to win games for a long time, apart from 2015-16 our spine has been bog average with creating and finishing.

The whole this club has 12 internationals and Origin players is total crap, claiming people who have had one game at Origin level or play at 18-19 for tier 2 international teams is a straw man and Wayne knows it. It is key positions that matter and when you have 30-40% of your cap tied up in injured, under performing and over the hill players you have major issues.

Stop talking sense mate... it is obvious old fox WB isn't to blame for anything.

He didn't bring Boyd to the club when we had zero need of a Fullback. We only had Barba, Kahu, Jayden Nikorima, Kodi Nikorima and Anthony Milford on the books.
He didn't move on the only decent Halfback we had (Taylor) in favour of a combination of two running halves incapable of organising a root in a brothel.
He didn't fail to create a game plan able to take advantage of the players on the roster once Walters left, except for the famous overlap play where Boyd excelled until the rot started setting in in 2017.
He didn't further let Ben Barba, Ben Hunt, Jayden Nikorima, Jake Granville and Matt Parcell go, to ensure we remained with a dreadful spine spine of Darius Boyd, Anthony Milford, Kodi Nikorima, Andrew McCullough and virtually no capable backup besides "glass" Kahu.
He didn't fail to get Ashley Taylor back to the club, despite the implied promise at the time the youngster left to the Tits.
He didn't then get an injured Jack Bird (arguably not his fault, although questionable whether he was aware of his medical history) when it was clear to everyone we needed an organising half.
He had zero responsibility in the lengthy contracts offered to an ageing Boyd, said "glass" Kahu, and a mediocre hooker in Andrew McCullough.
He didn't fail to make a dent in any finals after 2015, which relative success was probably nothing more than a combination of Hook's roster, Walters halves coaching and the retirement of a highly charismatic player in Justin Hodges.
He didn't preside over a progressive decline at the Broncos in terms of culture, results that mattered, and football on the field.

None of this happened of course. Seibold did not inherit a squad of unproven (yet talented) young players led by a dud spine and surrounded by dead wood on huge contracts. Everyone knew it was a Top 4 guaranteed roster... ROFL!

That said, the whole sacking and recruitment of a new coach was a failure from all sides. Perhaps the board didn't expect such resistance to the football management offer they gave Bennett. Perhaps everyone should've tried a bit harder, but I suspect WB being intransigent in wanting to coach the rest of his contract forced the board's hand into giving the decorated man a shameful sack.
As I said before, I am really happy we excised the huge tumour from the club, although the chemotherapy seems to be making us deathly sick.

While all the above, the rule changes and the never ending injury/suspension list are obviously pretty big reasons for the current state of affairs, Seibold is currently demonstrating that he doesn't look like he is up to the mammoth task of getting us on track.
I never expected great results, but I did and do want to see progress and improvement, and that's not happening. He is definitely on very thin ice and something needs to change if he wants to save his career... or we'll have to swallow a very bitter bill paying out his contract to get someone else who might hopefully be better. SOS Hook?

 

[The Strapper]

Souths have gotten worse under Bennett and we’ve gotten worse under Seibold.

Cook is regressing like Milf did under Bennett’s tutelage. His obsession with trying to make them more complete players hurt their running games and made them less effective.

I agree we are going backwards. Last year we made the finals (just) but got punted in the first week with a flogging just like in 2018 under bennett.
I'm not quite calling Souths yet. Last year they made the prelim final the same as 2018 under seibold. This year remains to play out although I admit the odds are lengthening about another prelim final appearance. Also they have lost Burgess and Inglis, 2 of the best players in the comp in their positions so I'm not calling a regression yet. Because of those losses they will actually have to improve just to stand still ie. make another prelim final.
I'll wait a bit longer before passing judgement on them.
As for us yes I am writing this season off and saying we cannot make the top 8 this year so that is definitely a step back.

 

[lynx000]

There is a reason these two players, along with the rest of the team, have fallen off a cliff.

Still beating the same drum. Also known as the carousel goes round and round.

 

[broncsgoat]

The drum I’ve been beating for a while seems to be getting louder. It’s almost as if the majority of others are now playing from the same drum.

Still beating the same drum. Also known as the carousel goes round and round.

 

[Wolfie]

I really don’t see where this whole ball-playing lock thing with Bird has come from and people heralding it’s current return. Manly had a ball-playing lock for a decade in G Stewart and you didn’t hear about it then. Greg Bird at the Titans too if you want genuine playmakers-turned-locks.

Let’s look at the current locks:

Carrigan - No
Finucane - No
Yeo - No (centre experience)
Williams - No (you could argue Graham is that guy, who was a half)
Ese’Ese/Glasby - No/No
Radley - kinda?
Horsburgh/Tapine - No/No
Blair/Tofu - No
Lolo - No
Arrow - No
Brown - No
Elliott - No
Merrin - not really and not the player he was
Twal - No
Murray - kinda
Jurbo - Yes, as far as relative to the rest of the comp.

you can say well Bird could’ve been the revelation the game needed, and even it was effective, then great. but I honestly just never saw it becoming a comp-wide thing again

Depends on your definition of a ball playing lock. Arrow, Radley and Murray do plenty of ball playing. Jurbo obviously is. Just because you dont see it with Bird doesnt mean its not what Wayne was going to do. I'm 99.9% confident the plan for him was to become our lock. If you go and have a look back, Bird himself mentioned lock was where he wanted to play. Bennett said he could fit in at lock. Lockyer said he should be lock, Hodges said lock would be a good fit for him. I've got absolutley no doubt at all it was our plan for Bird.

It still amazes me though how ill informed some people on here still are that they think Bird cost us a halfback when clearly, he didnt.

 

[Finbar]

I've been reluctant to weigh into the Seibold vs Wayne drama, but what I do know is that Wayne doesn't pick up his dog's shit when out for a walk. Nothing that he has done bothers me more than that.

 

[McHunt]

The drum I’ve been beating for a while seems to be getting louder. It’s almost as if the majority of others are now playing from the same drum.

You've put on an excellent show

 

[Porthoz]

The drum I’ve been beating for a while seems to be getting louder. It’s almost as if the majority of others are now playing from the same drum.

Your drum has always been butthurt about Wayne's more than rightful sacking.
Whether you are right about Seibs remains to be seen, but even if you are, it doesn't make you knowledgeable, much less a visionary. It just makes you an agenda driven bullshit troll artist, who is trying to rub into everyone's faces how the broken clock was right for once...

 

[Mustafur]

I have huge concerns with some of his recent decisions sure,, but honestly, being summed up as an ex-bartender, that'll do me...

It's a mates club, we have more scouts then any other team by a country mile with more youngsters on our books then other teams have employees including the leagues clubs, we should be getting the cream of the crop no exception.

Whether this is true or not I got no idea, but there has been a rumor around when Nolan first heard of Tesi Niu through a club scout he came to his next game spent 5 mins talking to someone on the phone while the game was going said this guy is good, sign him up and left the ground.

If this is the legit way he signs up youth we are fucked as a club for years.

We are the richest club in this league by a country mile with the best of everything, we should have the best in every role we can, remember only the coaching staff and the players are even on a salary cap.

 

[lynx000]

Your drum has always been butthurt about Wayne's more than rightful sacking.
Whether you are right about Seibs remains to be seen, but even if you are, it doesn't make you knowledgeable, much less a visionary. It just makes you an agenda driven bullshit troll artist, who is trying to rub into everyone's faces how the broken clock was right for once...

And, let's face it, the jury is still out on whether Wayne's proposal for the succession plan was a good one in any event. If JD tanks it at Souths when he takes over we would be in no better situation. We would be starting next year with JD at coach, in all likelihood, still with a spine of McCullough, Niko, Milford and whoever at fullback, with Boyd playing out his last year.

 

[WASSHHH]

Former coach still bitter and jaded about being sacked, takes opportunity to bury the hatchet (in between former bosses shoulder blades).

This has the same stench as that left at the disheveled Knights for the following 4 or so years after Bennett left.

And absolutely our current predicament is not all on Bennett. There is far too much rot at the club and no one involved over the last decade can be exempt from responsibility for that. But not for one second do I believe he is as absolved as he is trying to make out. Wiley old bastard has made a career out of manipulating situations like this.

Case in point; the whole last paragraph is a mix of absolutes and convenient political side-steps. It’s astonishing how he can remember some things with such certainty whilst other things remain so unclear.