Pressure on Bennett to deliver on 2015 title call

[Super Freak]

Kevin Walters says it’s time for Wayne Bennett to deliver another premiership

September 15, 2017

BRISBANE legend Kevin Walters believes it’s time for Wayne Bennett to deliver another premiership — two years after the super coach declared the 2017 season could be the year of the Bronco.

On the eve of Friday night’s Brisbane-Panthers sudden-death blockbuster at Suncorp Stadium, Walters concedes time is running out for several senior Broncos to break the longest title drought in the club’s 29-year history.

When Bennett returned to Red Hill in 2015, the code’s most successful coach called for patience from Brisbane fans, estimating it would take two years to build the Broncos into a legitimate premiership force.

Now the pressure is on Bennett to deliver on his premiership forecast, with Broncos playmaking icon Walters acutely aware of the performance benchmarks at the richest club in the NRL.

It has been 11 long years since Brisbane held aloft the premiership, a worrying drought for a $42 million Broncos empire that enjoys NRL dominance in southeast Queensland.

Walters was Bennett’s assistant when Brisbane had their hearts broken by the Cowboys in the 2015 grand final and says the 67-year-old won’t be satisfied until he delivers the club’s seventh premiership.

“He would be hungry for another title,” said Walters, the current Queensland Origin coach who won five premierships at Brisbane under Bennett’s tutelage.

“No coach has won more premierships. If there is any coach who knows what it’s all about at this time of the year and what needs to happen this week, it’s Wayne Bennett.

“Wayne set out at the start of the year to make the top four and then go as far as he can.

“That would be Wayne’s mentality this week. He will think the Broncos are capable of winning it.”

In an exclusive interview with The Courier-Mail in March 2015, Bennett claimed it would take two years to position Brisbane as a premiership threat.

The time is now.

“I’m not going to talk premierships this year,” he said at the time. “In fact, I’m not talking about them for the next two years.

“If I’m lucky, something might come along for us, but I know what I have to go through to win another premiership.

“I know what we have to do to get to where we want to be ... but there’s a lot of hard work to get back to what we used to be.”

To underscore the gravity of Brisbane’s drought, an entire generation of Broncos players face the prospect of never winning a premiership ring.

They include key quartet Ben Hunt, Alex Glenn and Josh McGuire and Matt Gillett, who have played a combined 750 first-grade games in a desperate search for the holy grail.

Of the 17-man Broncos squad that runs out against Penrith, just one player, Sam Thaiday, is a survivor of the club’s most recent premiership triumph in 2006.

“Sam Thaiday is finishing up next year. He is one guy with time running out,” Walters said.

“It’s not so much expectation about premierships, it’s more a case of getting consistent football in your system.

“Wayne and Craig Bellamy have been the masters of getting their football teams up at this time of year.

“I’d be surprised if the Broncos didn’t come up with a big performance against Penrith.”

Source: Courier Mail

 

[Nashy]

2017 is not the year of the Bronco. It's just not going to happen this year. I think the window has slammed shut.

 

[Jason Simmons]

2017 is not the year of the Bronco. It's just not going to happen this year. I think the window has slammed shut.

Yep, headed back into a re-building phase. The faith we put in the 'Hook era' group has been misplaced. It's already time to rebuild our front row stocks and find a new long term halfback option to partner Milf.

Within a year or two we will have to start the process of bolstering our second row options with Thaiday gone, Glenn moving into the twilight of his career and Gillett moving into the back half of his career. Likewise McCullough will be moving into the back-end of his career, so we have to start thinking about long term hooking options.

A new long term fullback will be needed and we will need yet another new captain. Finding a new long term one we can build a club around for the next decade or so, Cordner / Lockyer style would of course be ideal, but I'm not seeing it at present...

Think about this...

Gillett - 29.
McCullough - 27 (28 in January).
Glenn - 29.
Boyd - 30.
McGuire -27.

This group has 3-4 years at most as a competitive group and we are already missing a permanent solution at halfback, are losing front row stocks at an alarming rate and are short on quality centres and wingers, being only 1 injury away in either position from being seriously tested depth wise.

People are saying it's getting close to time for Wayne, but when he does go, someone new will be thrown into a re-buidling phase yet again...

 

[Morkel]

2017 is not the year of the Bronco. It's just not going to happen this year. I think the window has slammed shut.

Sadly I agree. There's only so much you can control, and it looks like a few things like injuries will play a key part. Once again, no surprise to see that the top two sides are almost injury-free at the right time of year.

Even without the injuries I think we were still just a few % off. We could have won it if the stars aligned, an opposition team had an off day or the bounce of the ball went the right way. But McCullough out (despite Hunt's good work), some in/out forwards, as well as a whole bunch of players who are barely making it on the field (Kahu etc) and it's just too much to overcome.

 

[Number6]

Sadly I agree. There's only so much you can control, and it looks like a few things like injuries will play a key part. Once again, no surprise to see that the top two sides are almost injury-free at the right time of year.

Even without the injuries I think we were still just a few % off. We could have won it if the stars aligned, an opposition team had an off day or the bounce of the ball went the right way. But McCullough out (despite Hunt's good work), some in/out forwards, as well as a whole bunch of players who are barely making it on the field (Kahu etc) and it's just too much to overcome.

Injuries have been a problem but I don't think should be an excuse especially when you consider the last 3 years as a whole. Hunt has shown he is a better hooker than Macca and much better than at halfback. Boyd has been plum average this year especially since his hand. We should have had plenty of outside back and half depth. Middle forwards are a bit of a problem but this is what happens when you are relying on second rowers to begin with.

Most of the problems are failure to perform, failure to lead, failure to use players and tactics to suit strengths and failure to manage recruitment. We might have finished third but haven't shown to be a team that can pull it together when it counts.

Solutions aren't that hard either. Pick and stick for positions such as KNik at halfback. Use Benji as required in short bursts rather than a winger on the bench. World class fullback playing busted in front line, mmm wonder where he could play and not be a turnstile... Let the young front rowers get game time and start so they can actually learn and add value. When we need it. Show some trust in young players (instead of only showing trust in the one moron who has an iq of a turnip) - just get feeling doesn't give them much leash to actually learn on field leadership without old hard-heads like Hodges nose dragging them around. Let the players play a bit so they enjoy the game and work with their passion for the game rather than coach it out of them. And anyone with half a brain realises you let the fastest guy in the NRL get some ball in attack rather than catch a cold while ball goes other way.