Finals Week 3

[broncos4life]

I personally know 4 or 5 blokes who had contracts renewed while Wayne was at the club and they all said he was one of the least involved in their contract negotiations. Now i'm not saying either he doesnt play a role because he clearly does, but i think whoever is negotiating with the players agents is the problem.

No one has claimed it even suggested he was involved in the negotiations, so I am not sure your point. Just because he isn’t in the negotiations shouldn’t you can’t believe they don’t ask him about length he wants the player and how hard he wants them to go for them? This isn’t Mary and the dragons.

 

[Petch67]

I’m listening but I just don’t accept it, at least not completely. Bennett has his hands on everything when he is at a club, that is widely known. Yes he wouldn’t be intimately involved but he would have his say on contract length at the very least and the extent he wants them.

The further problem is that Wayne is a constant liar in terms of what he says publicly. As much as people claim I have an agenda because I don’t believe everything he says publicly you could also argue that people that except his word as gospel do so because of their own agenda.

He had his hands all over someone else too

 

[Sproj]

This is the side let go by coaches over the last few years / signed on overs by other clubs. Please correct the ones I’ve got wrong. Which ones are mistakes in hindsight?

1. Allan (Bennett)
2. Copley (Bennett?)
3. Roberts (Seibold)
4. Opacic (Seibold?)
5. Gagai (Griffin)
6. Hunt (Bennett)
7. Taylor (Bennett)
8. Molo (Bennett)
9. McCullough (Seibold)
10. Lui (Bennett?)
11. Su’A (Seibold)
12. Fifita (Seibold)
13. Foulsmellingodour (Bennett?)

14. T.Boyd (Seibold?)
15. Wallace (Bennett)
16. Arrow (Bennett)
17. Collins (Bennett?)

 

[Cult]

I’m not just talking about contracts and I have given my thoughts below on the anecdotal evidence. My main issue with Bennett is that the things that happen around him that he would have people believe just fall into his lap without his knowledge. James Roberts is a prime example. He isn’t going with him to Souths yet after a few weeks of kicking stones (which I am sure Bennett had no influence in) there he is. That’s just one example but it is amazing how all these things just happen around Bennett. Another amazing coincidence is the only thing that could secure our wooden spoon was the Bulldogs getting a win and the likelihood of that was the same as us winning the premiership. Next minute in come Souths who had been towelling up teams but miraculously couldn’t get over the all conquering Bulldogs, but can put a record score on the reading two time premiers the next week.

Just incredible isn’t it.

Thats hitting conspiracy theory territory which we all know I love, but I’m not willing to accept it as evidence. Roberts was a cancer at our club, who had to be handled by Bennett. We all loved how he bullshitted the media when he was here, why would he stop now?

 

[Wolfie]

No one has claimed it even suggested he was involved in the negotiations, so I am not sure your point. Just because he isn’t in the negotiations shouldn’t you can’t believe they don’t ask him about length he wants the player and how hard he wants them to go for them? This isn’t Mary and the dragons.

My point its not all on one person. I think people get mixed up between the Wayne Bennett in his first spell, where he was in total control, and the Wayne Bennett in his second spell who was basically part of a recruitment committee. He didnt have anywhere near the same influence and I dont think some people can separate the two.

 

[Big Pete]

1. Allan (Bennett)
2. Copley (Bennett?)
3. Roberts (Seibold)
4. Opacic (Seibold?)
5. Gagai (Griffin)
6. Hunt (Bennett)
7. Taylor (Bennett)
8. Molo (Bennett)
9. McCullough (Seibold)
10. Lui (Bennett?)
11. Su’A (Seibold)
12. Fifita (Seibold)
13. Foulsmellingodour (Bennett?)

14. T.Boyd (Seibold?)
15. Wallace (Bennett)
16. Arrow (Bennett)
17. Collins (Bennett?)

Copley - Bennett (2016/17 Off-Season to Roosters)
Opacic - Bennett (Officially signed with the Cowboys in August 2018)
Lui - Griffin (Signed with Manly in 2014)
Fa'asuamaleaui - Bennett (Signed with Melbourne in 2017)
T. Boyd - Seibold (Signed with the Titans mid-season in 2019)
Collins - Bennett (Signed with Roosters in early 2016)

K. Nikorima - Seibold
Norman - Griffin
McGuire - Bennett
T. Sims - Henjak
K. Sims - Bennett

No shame in losing most of those players, it was the players that were brought in at the expense of those players and the lack of marquee talent at the club.

 

[broncos4life]

Copley - Bennett (2016/17 Off-Season to Roosters)
Opacic - Bennett (Officially signed with the Cowboys in August 2018)
Lui - Griffin (Signed with Manly in 2014)
Fa'asuamaleaui - Bennett (Signed with Melbourne in 2017)
T. Boyd - Seibold (Signed with the Titans mid-season in 2019)
Collins - Bennett (Signed with Roosters in early 2016)

K. Nikorima - Seibold
Norman - Griffin
McGuire - Bennett
T. Sims - Henjak
K. Sims - Bennett

No shame in losing most of those players, it was the players that were brought in at the expense of those players and the lack of marquee talent at the club.

Thank god he got rid of Collins and Tino, those guys suck. I take it all back, thanks Wayne!

 

[Cult]

Thank god he got rid of Collins and Tino, those guys suck. I take it all back, thanks Wayne!

“Got rid of” or got outbidded by teams with no juniors who routinely buy our young players?

 

[Hoof Hearted]

This is the side let go by coaches over the last few years / signed on overs by other clubs. Please correct the ones I’ve got wrong. Which ones are mistakes in hindsight?

1. Allan (Bennett)
2. Copley (Bennett?)
3. Roberts (Seibold)
4. Opacic (Seibold?)
5. Gagai (Griffin)
6. Hunt (Bennett)
7. Taylor (Bennett)
8. Molo (Bennett)
9. McCullough (Seibold)
10. Lui (Bennett?)
11. Su’A (Seibold)
12. Fifita (Seibold)
13. Foulsmellingodour (Bennett?)

14. T.Boyd (Seibold?)
15. Wallace (Bennett)
16. Arrow (Bennett)
17. Collins (Bennett?)

Just a point of clarification number 13 is not a relation of mine.

 

[Big Pete]

Thank god he got rid of Collins and Tino, those guys suck. I take it all back, thanks Wayne!

It's taken Collins four years to become a consistent NRL player in the best system in the competition. The Broncos didn't want to lose him but the Roosters offered him a better deal so he took it.

Similar deal with Fa'asuamaleaui. The Broncos went ahead and signed Payne Haas and couldn't afford to sign Tino on the same deal the Melbourne Storm offered, especially with David Fifita coming through.

Call me crazy but I would happily take Matt Lodge, Tevita Pangai Jr and Payne Haas at their best over those players.

The player that Bennett lost that really hurt the team was Ben Hunt. Watching Hunt play now you can understand the decision but they haven't been able to find a player who can reproduce what Ben Hunt did in 2015.

 

[Sproj]

Copley - Bennett (2016/17 Off-Season to Roosters)
Opacic - Bennett (Officially signed with the Cowboys in August 2018)
Lui - Griffin (Signed with Manly in 2014)
Fa'asuamaleaui - Bennett (Signed with Melbourne in 2017)
T. Boyd - Seibold (Signed with the Titans mid-season in 2019)
Collins - Bennett (Signed with Roosters in early 2016)

K. Nikorima - Seibold
Norman - Griffin
McGuire - Bennett
T. Sims - Henjak
K. Sims - Bennett

No shame in losing most of those players, it was the players that were brought in at the expense of those players and the lack of marquee talent at the club.

Thanks for clarifying those. Yeah you are totally right when it comes to not replacing them. The Broncos seem to have been unable to attract talent for a considerable amount of time now but constantly seem to lose a lot of the very best coming through. Is it a talent identification issue, recruitment or retention issue? I would imagine it is a bit of all obviously but retention of the REALLY talented kids seems to be a massive problem compared to say Melbourne. Why is that?

 

[Petch67]

“Got rid of” or got outbidded by teams with no juniors who routinely buy our young players?

Good point

 

[Big Pete]

Thanks for clarifying those. Yeah you are totally right when it comes to not replacing them. The Broncos seem to have been unable to attract talent for a considerable amount of time now but constantly seem to lose a lot of the very best coming through. Is it a talent identification issue, recruitment or retention issue? I would imagine it is a bit of all obviously but retention of the REALLY talented kids seems to be a massive problem compared to say Melbourne. Why is that?

They hadn't had to deal with two years of bad recruitment. Attracting talent wasn't an issue under Bennett, the problem was their big marquee signing has barely been able to make it onto the field. That was Bennett's big mistake and something that he has to own.

Well, we know how Melbourne were able to keep those players together for so long. When you build that nucleus over that amount of time and just chop and change parts around them and sell young prospects over the chance of training alongside them it just makes life so much easier. They've made the most of it and enjoyed a dream run but even Melbourne have had their moments and even they miss Cooper Cronk. Like Kodi Nikorima, Jahrome Hughes has done an admirable job of filling in but when it comes to guiding the team around the park and those end of sets they dearly miss what Cooper brought.

As they say it happens to the best of them.