- Mar 13, 2008
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Re: Wayne Bennet's 2015 Team Line Up
A couple of things about the Hasler v Bennett comparison. Hasler has obviously been to 2 more grand finals. Obviously he lost those extra 2 though so it doesn't count for much.
What impresses me though is the way he has handled change and transition. Matt Orford leaves in 2009, leaving Keiran Foran (9 games experience at this point) and rookie DCE as their halves. Most teams would struggle with 2 essentially rookie halves with 9 games of NRL between them. What does he do? Win a premiership.
He then goes to the Dogs and completely changes the way they play from how they did at Manly, developing Barba into a Dally M medallist and only bringing one notable player with him (Tony Williams).
Bennett on the other hand makes a similar move in changing teams shortly after winning a grand final, proceeds to bring multiple players with him (Boyd, Scott, McKinnon). He tries to use the exact same game plan at Newcastle and fails miserably.
So they've been in the same situation once in the last decade (new club) and Hasler wins this by TKO IMO. Had Bennett been in a situation where he lost his key halves, history suggests to me he wouldn't have had the balls to play 2 rookies the way Hasler did. For me that makes Hasler all the more impressive from an overall point of view.
Hopefully though, WB can go ahead on the Premierships count next year, and boost his lead in 2016!
A couple of things about the Hasler v Bennett comparison. Hasler has obviously been to 2 more grand finals. Obviously he lost those extra 2 though so it doesn't count for much.
What impresses me though is the way he has handled change and transition. Matt Orford leaves in 2009, leaving Keiran Foran (9 games experience at this point) and rookie DCE as their halves. Most teams would struggle with 2 essentially rookie halves with 9 games of NRL between them. What does he do? Win a premiership.
He then goes to the Dogs and completely changes the way they play from how they did at Manly, developing Barba into a Dally M medallist and only bringing one notable player with him (Tony Williams).
Bennett on the other hand makes a similar move in changing teams shortly after winning a grand final, proceeds to bring multiple players with him (Boyd, Scott, McKinnon). He tries to use the exact same game plan at Newcastle and fails miserably.
So they've been in the same situation once in the last decade (new club) and Hasler wins this by TKO IMO. Had Bennett been in a situation where he lost his key halves, history suggests to me he wouldn't have had the balls to play 2 rookies the way Hasler did. For me that makes Hasler all the more impressive from an overall point of view.
Hopefully though, WB can go ahead on the Premierships count next year, and boost his lead in 2016!
