NEWS Talks commence on Bennett-Seibold swap

[Thelmus]

It wouldn't surprise if he does have to kick a few bad habits down there though. They swing in some mediocre performances as much as us, but with a far more experienced team

 

[winslow_wong]

STUNNING BENNETT REVELATION.

South Sydney Rabbits have privately confided they are facing one of their toughest ever pre-seasons with Wayne Bennett their incoming coach.

Bennett’s famed speed over long distance with his daily running routine, even at age 70 privately has several Rabbits players concerned over their ability to perform to Bennett’s high expectations.

Recent speculation from a number of sources has confirmed that Bennett has grown a third leg from a nodule on his hip, which while un-wieldy, has seen him achieve speeds un-heard of in NRL circles.

With global warming already having an ever increasingly debilitating effect on the NRL pre-season, this news has Souths players grumbling privately whether this ‘swap’ deal was a good idea.

Weildy

Is his third leg the same as his little head?

 

[Super Freak]

It wouldn't surprise if he does have to kick a few bad habits down there though. They swing in some mediocre performances as much as us, but with a far more experienced team

With a less experienced team.

 

[CaptainHook]

It's hard to know where to post. There's a few threads floating around talking about the same thing in a roundabout way.

By and large coaching merry go-rounds bore me but I have been reading the press about it and trying to organise my thoughts on recent developments and the game as a whole.

It is the off-season. A time for reflection.

It’s a professional sport. Coaches come and go. Some do good. Some don’t.

Not everything is the coach’s fault. Some of the guys on our roster will be onto their fourth or fifth coach with Seibold.

The whole thing is really unedifying and a terrible look for the game.

Not sure if it’s up there with that embarrassing announcement that the NRL are going to crack down on slapping.

Yes. That’s right. Grown men slapping each other to gain an advantage. Remember that?

Rugby League is batshit crazy and fans pretend it’s the norm. I honestly don’t get it.

I get that it’s a results driven business. Actually it’s profit-driven first then results. The two don’t necessarily have to go together. Any clubs relying on loyalty and integrity probably won’t achieve much in this day and age.

In a recent column Peter FitzSimons summed up the situation perfectly:

… in the modern era, football is less and less tribal and more a business pure, where allegiances are never more than short-term arrangements and very few truly care for the jersey they are most associated with.

And overall, I say it is bad for rugby league, as for fans – the paymasters – loyalty is the life-blood of the game. And when you have a situation where coaches are signing for other clubs a year in advance and in all likelihood won’t see out their current contracts, why the hell should the fans care who wins or loses?

Yeah, yeah I know it’s Peter FitzSimons but that’s an excellent point.

Personally, I think the situation for 2019 is untenable. You’d hope that the parties involved would be professional when seeing out the final year but you’re asking a lot of your fanbase to go through the motions for a year.

Here’s Malcolm Knox on the dangers of the phantom resignation. The “I’m leaving but in a year or two” phenomenon.

When leaders grandfather themselves, little good follows. Closer to the action, Steve Waugh and Johnathan Thurston are two examples of all-time greats whose resignation announcements, many months before their actual departures, had an adverse effect on their teams. Waugh’s Australian teammates grew exhausted by his 2003-04 victory lap; this year’s North Queensland Cowboys showed similar symptoms.

This is why all those NRL clubs who can afford it are not letting their coaches grandfather their resignations: if Wayne Bennett says he’ll happily resign from the Broncos – in a year or two – a mood of uncertainty settles over an organisation, and soon it’s not just the coach who’s looking like a lame duck. The moment a leader announces their resignation, even if it’s many tomorrows away, they become part of yesterday. Interesting that rugby league clubs are ahead of the game on this one.

Andrew Webster’s take on it is in a similar vein.

There’s an old saying in footy: if you’re not part of the future, you cannot be part of the present. Better to rip of the bandaid fast to ease the pain.

Fair enough, too, but this coaching madness that’s presently at play reveals how weak some clubs can be.

His whole article is worth a read. Clubs need to be building towards something or achieving something (ie winning).

I don’t think clubs are designed for treading water for a year. Will fans accept it if the swap doesn’t happen?

Much has been about the salary Bennett is able to command. What do you expect? Bennett doesn’t come cheap. It’s his reward for being the best there is at what he does for so long.

The most interesting aspect of this whole fiasco I think is the fact that Wayne Bennett is in England.

He is overseas doing his bit to grow the international game.

Bennett has always seen the bigger picture and his role in expanding the game. He has coached Australia for two stints, been an assistant for the New Zealand team and is now coaching England.

I think it’s great even though there is a contingent of Broncos fans who prefer he focus on matters closer to home.

The fact that it might make him a better coach often doesn’t get acknowledged.

It’s exciting the inroads Rugby League is making internationally. The last two years especially. Often in spite of the NRL not because of it.

Here’s Bennett:

If we don't have a global product in 20 years we won't have a product. Sport is changing that quickly and kids are growing up with all the sports around the world. I want to be in a market place where we can take rugby league people know about and they come and see it and want to play it.

Does that sound like a bloke who is just in it for himself?

Let me put it another way. It’s 2018 and most of us still can’t work out if an obstruction occurred and we’re still arguing about what “technically constitutes a shoulder charge.”

If you think the NRL is in a healthy shape and on the up and up - can I please have some of what you’re smoking?

Further reading:

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/when-f...fans-stay-invested-in-it-20181026-p50c5f.html

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/phanto...-deferred-accountability-20181026-p50c2t.html

https://www.smh.com.au/sport/nrl/in...-manly-is-the-safest-bet-20181015-p509tm.html

https://www.nrl.com/news/2018/06/24/we-have-got-to-come-back-wayne-bennett-on-denver-experience/

 

[Morepudding]

I highly doubt the Broncos would be willing to pay anything for Bennett if the swap occured. They would want an actual swap and not need to pay anything. That's if they even agree. From a financial standpoint the Broncos will make a lot of money celebrating Bennett's final season. They would see increased crowds at some games (particularly the last home game of the season) And would benefit financially from that.

 

[Morepudding]

Also, it's pretty clear that the Souths want the change more. Bennett made it extremely clear that he wanted to stay at the Broncos, but we didn't offer him a contract. Seibold had a contract from Souths but chose the Broncos instead. From a psychological stand point, I can definitely see why South's would be more desperate than us, but either way, whoever is coaching them in 2019 preffered to coach the Broncos.

 

[Nashy]

If you think the NRL is in a healthy shape and on the up and up - can I please have some of what you’re smoking?

Sure, come over.

However, I would like to know who thinks RL is on the up? It's been horribly run since the beginning of time, it took SL to make any meaningful changes, and since re-unification, it's been much the same crap. It's a boys club at the top, and it will not change.

 

[Gaz]

Does that sound like a bloke who is just in it for himself?

He has book called Man in he Mirror. Get it and read it. He answers your question.

 

[Gaz]

It's a boys club at the top, and it will not change.

Correct. Our club unfortunately is a prime example. Corporately orientated to a point where both shareholders and sponsors are appeased at expense of Mum and Dad supporters. Both Cowboys and Storm were smart enough to flick News. Big end of town run our club and until we become our own entity nothing much will change. Anyone who got our supporters pack couple years ago that was cryovaced (cap and all) with the postie trying to stick it through the slot in the letterbox while we were trying to stick it up the posties arse will testify.
I am sure if we were our own entity with a CEO with balls Bennett would have been fucked off as soon as he signed with another club and so would the players who have not yet signed.

 

[Gaz]

I highly doubt the Broncos would be willing to pay anything for Bennett if the swap occured. They would want an actual swap and not need to pay anything. That's if they even agree. From a financial standpoint the Broncos will make a lot of money celebrating Bennett's final season. They would see increased crowds at some games (particularly the last home game of the season) And would benefit financially from that.

I’ve already celebrated his last game with a thrashing at Lang Park.

 

[BroncsFan]

I think the media do a great job at creating hysteria about any situation.

Is Bennett's position at the Broncos in 2019 really untenable??

They (media) are acting like the circus around Bennett's last year will destabilise the broncos title run... when in fact there is very little evidence to support this. It is more likely to have the opposite effect where the players have an emotional pool to draw from.

Yet the media will often tell you that "many pundits" think the situation is untenable and the coaches MUST swap now... Of course the opinions they use are from parties external to the broncos organisation.

The media simply choose an agenda (literally any agenda) and ram it down the collective throat of Joe public until they blindly follow it as fact... and then all of a sudden it builds to a wave of support to whatever agenda is being pushed.

Without realizing it the public have allowed the media to have an unprecedented amount of power over them and they have no qualms in manipulating them to achieve what they want... which in most cases simply appears to be distabilisation and chaos

 

[Gaz]

I think the media do a great job at creating hysteria about any situation.

Think they've turned the Penrith:Tigers Ringling Bros circus into the Broncos: Souths Cirque du Soleil.

 

[Nashy]

Correct. Our club unfortunately is a prime example. Corporately orientated to a point where both shareholders and sponsors are appeased at expense of Mum and Dad supporters. Both Cowboys and Storm were smart enough to flick News. Big end of town run our club and until we become our own entity nothing much will change. Anyone who got our supporters pack couple years ago that was cryovaced (cap and all) with the postie trying to stick it through the slot in the letterbox while we were trying to stick it up the posties arse will testify.
I am sure if we were our own entity with a CEO with balls Bennett would have been fucked off as soon as he signed with another club and so would the players who have not yet signed.

While I get what you're saying, I'm talking about the NRL as a whole. I don't think the Broncos are run bad, and I most certainly don't buy into this constant argument from the fans that a membership means you get a merchandise pack just because.

But I guess different strokes. I personally buy a membership because I love the club, the tickets to games and the merch pack are just added bonuses.

Your comment about fucking Bennett off is a little off the mark for the point you are trying to make. The clubs who don't make money, and are run by their own ex members and players are the ones who waste money like it's limitless. That's why we are in a good position, the club doesn't make knee jer reactions which cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. I mean, the club can afford it, but you still don't want to be wasting money. No doubt the swap will happen, both clubs know it's dumb if it doesn't.

 

[Nashy]

I think the media do a great job at creating hysteria about any situation.

Is Bennett's position at the Broncos in 2019 really untenable??

They (media) are acting like the circus around Bennett's last year will destabilise the broncos title run... when in fact there is very little evidence to support this. It is more likely to have the opposite effect where the players have an emotional pool to draw from.

Yet the media will often tell you that "many pundits" think the situation is untenable and the coaches MUST swap now... Of course the opinions they use are from parties external to the broncos organisation.

The media simply choose an agenda (literally any agenda) and ram it down the collective throat of Joe public until they blindly follow it as fact... and then all of a sudden it builds to a wave of support to whatever agenda is being pushed.

Without realizing it the public have allowed the media to have an unprecedented amount of power over them and they have no qualms in manipulating them to achieve what they want... which in most cases simply appears to be distabilisation and chaos

Yes, it is absolutely 100% untenable. I really don't see a world where it's not. I've been using Telstra as my example, if the CEO there took another job as the CEO of Optus, starting in a year, the moment Telstra were aware, the board would walk him out and say cya later. It's a MASSIVE conflict of interest.

 

[Stix]

Yes, it is absolutely 100% untenable. I really don't see a world where it's not. I've been using Telstra as my example, if the CEO there took another job as the CEO of Optus, starting in a year, the moment Telstra were aware, the board would walk him out and say cya later. It's a MASSIVE conflict of interest.

I think that Wayne is a professional and could do 2019 with the Broncos with dignity. But if this is the way we go I fully expect next season to be a nothing year and the fans and media to continually question whether his mind is on the job or looking toward the following season with the Bunnies.

 

[Foordy]

here is a good excerpt from Paul Malone about the potential coaching swap

The weekend’s developments that Souths want the Broncos to foot the bill for the contractual costs of the clubs swapping coaches for 2019 beggar one question: why?

One Sydney report said $600,000 would free the coaches up. Another put the figure at $500,000.

Since Souths announced on October 25 that Bennett would coach them from 2020 on a two-year deal, two things have changed.

The people convinced the two clubs can’t proceed in 2019 with Bennett in Brisbane and Seibold at Redfern are even more voluble that it can’t happen.

And there have been media reports that Souths players are unhappy with Seibold for wanting to leave them.

I would have thought it was South Sydney’s responsibility to keep Rabbitohs players motivated and content, not Brisbane’s.

source: Courier Mail

 

[Nashy]

Why can't these dick nuts just halve it, and be done with it. Deadset. Dragging it on is only going to hurt both clubs.

 

[Gaz]

could do 2019 with the Broncos with dignity.

He will be getting a million bucks. He can do it with dignity at Souths. In case you forget we got beat by 30 pts 48-18 in front of 45k+ in the last game he was head coach of the Brisbane Broncos. No dignity in that.