Discussion about Wayne Bennett

[kluppy]

If Griffin serves a year and does really well, then Wayne comes in...do any of you seriously think that Griffin will step down as an assistant coach? I don't. I reckon you'll have a couple of clubs chasing him.

depends, if him and white and bennett are as chummy as is being made out, then they might come to some sort of gentlemens agreement.....

 

[Nashy]

Ala... John and Pete?

 

[kluppy]

Ala... John and Pete?

hopefully a little more gentlemenly then that.....

 

[m1c]

I wonder what AP's thoughts are about Renoufs comments

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... 1b5lo.html

 

[Coxy]

I wonder what AP's thoughts are about Renoufs comments

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-league/leag ... 1b5lo.html

Don't really care what AP thinks about that, but it's very interesting and heartening to see such respect from Renouf.

Renouf has been vocal in his criticism of Bennett over the years, and had his share of run ins with Bennett when he was playing, so it's nice to see that he can put his personal issues aside and see the quality of the man and what he achieved with the Broncos.

 

[mrslong]

Wow a quality article about the Broncos and Wayne Bennett in a fairfax paper [icon_confu

It's true I reckon WB wants to come back and restore the club to what he built it into. Bruno & Co - wtf was their agenda anyway? Does anyone know? Surely they love the Broncos and wanted us to do well, is it just that they are poor decision makers?

Remember everyone saying "Henjack" is the best fit for the club. Really only time can tell about these things, hopefully Griffin makes a go of it and WB can come back as football manager or something - like in the MLB, where he basically oversees all the different specialist coaches.

 

[Coxy]

Wow a quality article about the Broncos and Wayne Bennett in a fairfax paper [icon_confu

It's true I reckon WB wants to come back and restore the club to what he built it into. Bruno & Co - wtf was their agenda anyway? Does anyone know? Surely they love the Broncos and wanted us to do well, is it just that they are poor decision makers?

I don't think there's much mystery to it. Someone correct me if I've got the series of events wrong though.

After the Broncos' less than stellar performances from 2003-2005, the Broncos decided Wayne Bennett should sign a contract and they should start planning for life beyond Bennett. For whatever reason, this didn't sit well with Bennett who had been with the club on handshake agreements since 1988. He probably took it as a lack of trust or confidence in him.

Sydney Roosters came knocking asking if Wayne would take over as coach in 2007, and as we now know, he agreed on the condition that the negotiations stayed confidential. Somehow, it got leaked in 2006 and so Bennett canned the move.

But that was seen as a betrayal by Bruno and the board, and that pretty much sent the relationship spiraling towards being untenable. The decision was made Bennett would not be retained beyond 2009.

Depending who you talk to, it's Bruno's fault, or it's Bennett's fault. In reality it was both of them at fault and was poorly handled.

As for Henjak being the best fit for the club, well, we'd seen numerous Bennett understudies go on to successful coaching careers over the years. Most notably Craig Bellamy. So it made sense that Henjak would follow. Unfortunately as time has shown, Henjak's personality and people management skills weren't up to his tactical and coaching ability. As head coach, those intangible skills are probably as important if not more so than footy knowledge.

Some people did mention those shortcomings at the time of his appointment as a concern.

Griffin is different. Yes, he's worked under Bennett, but he's also worked independently of Bennett with different clubs, different players, different backgrounds. He's had success at every level and you struggle to find anyone who he's worked with or coached that has a bad word to say about him. This is positive to me. Very positive.

Will his results be as good or better than Henjak? Time will tell. But it's important to note that Henjak wasn't sacked because of the on field results. It was the off field issues.

 

[mrslong]

Mmmm, if i recall correctly back end of 2005 early 2006 there was a lot of media leaks about WB and his financial arrangements etc. I remember wondering who leaked this information to the paper - it was quite clearly someone high up in the Broncos, and it was evident that they were obviously starting a smear campaign against Bennett.

I didn't blame Bennett for seeking out the Roosters when he'd been bitterly betrayed like that.

 

[Kaz]

Sydney Roosters came knocking asking if Wayne would take over as coach in 2007, and as we now know, he agreed on the condition that the negotiations stayed confidential. Somehow, it got leaked in 2006 and so Bennett canned the move.

But that was seen as a betrayal by Bruno and the board, and that pretty much sent the relationship spiraling towards being untenable. The decision was made Bennett would not be retained beyond 2009.

Depending who you talk to, it's Bruno's fault, or it's Bennett's fault. In reality it was both of them at fault and was poorly handled.

I thought it was Bennett lying to them & saying the story about the Roosters job wasn't true, that strained their friendship.

 

[m1c]

For various reasons Waynes relationship with the front office begun to sour. Bruno butting his head into football related matters (always a Wayne no no), Wayne having to sign a contract, the Roosters incident and various stories run in the News Limited press to discredit Bennett are just some of the problems we are aware of.

It's a travesty, whichever way you look at it IMO.

 

[mrslong]

News are still at it.

It appears for whatever reason News Ltd still don't want him at the Broncos, but Fairfax do [icon_confu weird.

 

[Coxy]

Well the fact it'd upset News is enough for Fairfax to want it to happen! [icon_lol1.

 

[Porthoz]

Will his results be as good or better than Henjak? Time will tell. But it's important to note that Henjak wasn't sacked because of the on field results. It was the off field issues.

I agree with everything else you said, but I don't think you can separate the off field issues from the on field results. It's obvious they go hand in hand, and we probably would have made the 8, were it not for those off field issues...

 

[Coxy]

Will his results be as good or better than Henjak? Time will tell. But it's important to note that Henjak wasn't sacked because of the on field results. It was the off field issues.

I agree with everything else you said, but I don't think you can separate the off field issues from the on field results. It's obvious they go hand in hand, and we probably would have made the 8, were it not for those off field issues...

Not necessarily. I think losing Lockyer for significant spells at season start and season end had more impact than anything.

Not saying the Broncos' results last year were acceptable, or that they didn't contribute to the decision to **** him off, but I don't think it was the primary reason.

 

[Browny]

Don't forget hes a straight shooter

 

[Coxy]

Don't forget hes a straight shooter

[icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1. [icon_lol1.

 

[Porthoz]

Not necessarily. I think losing Lockyer for significant spells at season start and season end had more impact than anything.

Not saying the Broncos' results last year were acceptable, or that they didn't contribute to the decision to **** him off, but I don't think it was the primary reason.

Players (especially young and unexperienced ones like we had last year) performance is very much related to their state of mind. Can't imagine it being very flash if all the rumours about Henjak's personal views and people management skills were as bad as portrayed. More than anything, Rugby League is a sport where the team spirit and camaraderie is of utmost importance. I saw various games last season where that was definitely lacking, and definitely contributed towards defeats. The home games against Tigers and Panthers are one example, but the Warriors game at Suncorp was the maximum exponent.

And yes, the absence of Locky made a huge difference, because he is respected and was often able to get those youngsters's minds on the job at hand. But Henjak was the main factor IMO.
These were already my thoughts and my main grief with Henjak before his sacking anyway...

 

[Anonymous person]

Will his results be as good or better than Henjak? Time will tell. But it's important to note that Henjak wasn't sacked because of the on field results. It was the off field issues.

I agree with everything else you said, but I don't think you can separate the off field issues from the on field results. It's obvious they go hand in hand, and we probably would have made the 8, were it not for those off field issues...

we didnt make the finals last year for 2 reasons, and 2 reasons only:

1. injuries. we had our already young and inexperienced team absolutely decimated by injuries for the first half of the year. then we lost Lockyer and a few others in the second half. this is after losing Hodges without him even setting a foot on the field the entire year.

2. Wallace. no pussy-footing around it, his inability to get our team over the opposition tryline cost us games. there were numerous matches where we were camped on the other teams line for what seemed like 10 minutes at a time, and time after time he'd just make wrong decision after wrong decision, or even worse - just not make any decision at all and leave the rest of the team scratching their heads.

we missed out by what, 2 wins in the end? there were at least 5-6 games we wouldve won had we had a decent creative halfback or had even 2-3 of our better players back from injuries.