The Wayne Bennett Super thread!

[Big Pete]

The Broncos were seriously screwed.

No Lockyer, no Hunt, no Berro, no Ennis...

Even the likes of Lacey were coming off stints on the sideline.

They seriously had very little to work with.

Backline was in all sorts too. Outside of Hodgo, the best player they had was Steve Michaels - let that sink in. Boyd was terrible that year, he was seriously a king crab. Oh and if you guys thought Reed/Vidot was a terrible backline combo - wait until you got the likes of Emmett/Frawley.

It was the stuff dreams were made of.

If all those dreams were crushed and turned into nightmares.

2007 was like Richard III.

A half, a half, my kingdom for a half!

Not too unlike 2014.

Although it's more like - a half, decent passing skills, good defensive structures, speedy backs, bodies in motion...

Well the list goes on.

 

[Super Freak]

@Cult3 if you are seriously trying to justify Bennett picking guys like Carroll and Thaiday in the halves, then I don't ever want to see you complain about Griffin selecting Hoffman in the halves EVER AGAIN. because as bad as the decision was to play Hoffman in halves, it is not as bad as the decision to play Carroll or Thaiday in that position. (I'm pretty sure Bennett also played Stagg there at one point)

The difference is, Griffin had options.

Bennett did not. They were all bloody injured or playing that badly they were lucky to even hold a spot in the side.

As for Stagg, that was a bad call, but he didn't really play much 5/8. He was named there for his defense. It was Hunt, Hodges and Ennis doing all of the work in attack.

 

[Big Pete]

Not unlike the planned version of having Barba, Hodges, Hunt & McCullough co-ordinate all the attack, am I right?

The difference between TC @ 5/8 vs Hoffman @ 5/8 is that one occurred months into the season under a heavy injury toll.

Bennett also didn't exclusively stick with TC.

Stagg was different in so much that he was simply cover for Locky to come on.

 

[Foordy]

You guys can make all the excuses for Bennett you want doesn't change the facts. That he has had head scratching selections as well.

In fact from memory at the time most of BHQ were complaining about those selections. Now it seems like people will try to justify them

 

[Porthoz]

Oh god, next you'll be telling me we were boring for the last 30 years.

Darren Lockyer
Justin Hodges
Karmichael Hunt
Darius Boyd
Brent Tate
Greg Eastwood
Michael Ennis
Dave Taylor
Denan Kemp

Yeah, no "attacking flair" there.. We won a premiership with Shane Fucking Perry at halfback. Shane Perry. And why? Because we had the attacking flair everywhere else on the field. Also in 2007 half our team was injured and didn't we lose Tame Tupor early too?

Yeah, that's exactly what I said... I didn't credit WB for the premierships and our footy at all. :rolleyes:

Fair dinkum, you fundamentalists can't see anything negative written about your messiah, and you immediately go on a tangent.

We were as good as gone for the 2006 premiership. In fact, 2006 was looking like the rest of the years in that decade, where we were running out of puff at the business end of the season, and the tendency was for us to go out of the finals the same way again.
And then... Hodges and Lockyer happened, aided by the farewell fairy tale for a very deserving player and a Shane Berrigan on fire.

While there were certainly plenty of excuses for a 2007 season were we finished 8th on 24 pts. Let's not forget we lost 8 out of the first 12 games of the season, before most of the injuries struck, and were bottom of the ladder with that roster!
This is also the season we got rolled 68-22 in Parramatta, before we were cannon fodder (40-0) to the Storm in the finals with these "defensive halves".

BTW, last year, we finished 12th with 25 points (yes, that is 1 more than 2007), and had as many, if not more injuries across the park, but very few people acknowledged that fact. If anything, judging by your list, Bennett had a lot more to work with than Griffin!

Let me make it clear... I expect Bennett to do substantially better than Griffin, because he is a better coach, has the experience and undoubtedly knows the trade very well. I am not worried about him taking over from Hook, although I don't like how it happened, and can only hope there will be a proper succession when he retires, or better yet, I hope he will mentor and manage the following head coach, before he retires!

He also will have all the tools to do much better next year, with a very good roster waiting for him, besides having several exciting players waiting in the pipeline as well. Basically, anything less than a premiership in the next few years will be a massive fail, it's really as simple as that!

 

[broncos4life]

Wayne deserves credit for a lot, including what the Broncos have become, and I won't take credit away from the premierships we won, even if I do believe the 2006 one was a bit lucky, as we were definitely not looking likely. But excusing Tony Carroll in the halves with "enough attacking flair to allow a defensive half"? That's just nuts!

BTW, you do remember the result of Tony Carroll in the halves, don't you?

Lucked out and won a premiership. Talk about not giving credit where it's due

 

[broncos4life]

[MENTION=8468]Cult3[/MENTION] if you are seriously trying to justify Bennett picking guys like Carroll and Thaiday in the halves, then I don't ever want to see you complain about Griffin selecting Hoffman in the halves EVER AGAIN. because as bad as the decision was to play Hoffman in halves, it is not as bad as the decision to play Carroll or Thaiday in that position. (I'm pretty sure Bennett also played Stagg there at one point)

Carroll, thaiday and Stagg can all pass. There is no sane argument that can reason they are a worse choice for five eight than hoggman

 

[broncos4life]

You guys can make all the excuses for Bennett you want doesn't change the facts. That he has had head scratching selections as well.

In fact from memory at the time most of BHQ were complaining about those selections. Now it seems like people will try to justify them

And you can ignore all the responses that people post that don't suit your agenda. Eventually people will stop trying to discuss this with you and you can tell yourself you won

 

[broncos4life]

Yeah, that's exactly what I said... I didn't credit WB for the premierships and our footy at all. :rolleyes:

Fair dinkum, you fundamentalists can't see anything negative written about your messiah, and you immediately go on a tangent.

We were as good as gone for the 2006 premiership. In fact, 2006 was looking like the rest of the years in that decade, where we were running out of puff at the business end of the season, and the tendency was for us to go out of the finals the same way again.
And then... Hodges and Lockyer happened, aided by the farewell fairy tale for a very deserving player and a Shane Berrigan on fire.

While there were certainly plenty of excuses for a 2007 season were we finished 8th on 24 pts. Let's not forget we lost 8 out of the first 12 games of the season, before most of the injuries struck, and were bottom of the ladder with that roster!
This is also the season we got rolled 68-22 in Parramatta, before we were cannon fodder (40-0) to the Storm in the finals with these "defensive halves".

BTW, last year, we finished 12th with 25 points (yes, that is 1 more than 2007), and had as many, if not more injuries across the park, but very few people acknowledged that fact. If anything, judging by your list, Bennett had a lot more to work with than Griffin!

Let me make it clear... I expect Bennett to do substantially better than Griffin, because he is a better coach, has the experience and undoubtedly knows the trade very well. I am not worried about him taking over from Hook, although I don't like how it happened, and can only hope there will be a proper succession when he retires, or better yet, I hope he will mentor and manage the following head coach, before he retires!

He also will have all the tools to do much better next year, with a very good roster waiting for him, besides having several exciting players waiting in the pipeline as well. Basically, anything less than a premiership in the next few years will be a massive fail, it's really as simple as that!

'You fundamentalists'

Wasn't it you who had a cry at me on here for bunching you in with all the Bennett haters? So it's fine for you to generalise, but not the fundamentalists...

You go on about you gave him credit for his premierships etc. but the say bullshit like he got lucky in 2006. What a load of shit. You never 'get lucky' and win a premiership. They are too hard to win for it to be that simple. Form during the season is irrelevant when it comes to the finals, and unless the 15 other teams all had their points deducted and I forgot about it, claiming it was luck is a load of shit

 

[rnabokov]

Has it been posted before? The Mole is tweeting the Broncos are "sniffing" around Dane Gagai who, I understand, wants to return here in 2016, and that Bennett wants to bring Sam Mataora to the Broncos next year?

Anyone?

 

[broncos4life]

Has it been posted before? The Mole is tweeting the Broncos are "sniffing" around Dane Gagai who, I understand, wants to return here in 2016, and that Bennett wants to bring Sam Mataora to the Broncos next year?

Anyone?

Yeah there was a CM article on Tuesday about Gagai wanting to come back

http://www.couriermail.com.au/sport...im-two-years-ago/story-fniabnkr-1227028499554

 

[rnabokov]

Yeah there was a CM article on Tuesday about Gagai wanting to come back

Error Page

ThanksB4L. So that would make life interesting: Gagai, Mataora and Boyd. Aren't rumours fun.

 

[broncos4life]

ThanksB4L. So that would make life interesting: Gagai, Mataora and Boyd. Aren't rumours fun.

haha indeed

 

[rnabokov]

haha indeed

Well I wouldn't object to Gagai and Copley in the centres once Hodges retires although I would still like to see Oates in the centres

 

[john1420]

I think we could do with a dose of reality therapy

It isn't necessary to agree with 100% of Wayne's decisions in order to support him

Nor is it necessary to do the opposite

If the Bennett supporters could admit that despite their love for him, he did make some bizarre head scratching decisions and not dismiss them or make excuses for them, that would be a good start

If the anti Bennett brigade could admit that despite their feelings against him, he did make some good decisions and has won 7 premierships along the way and not dismiss them or make excuses for them, that would be a good next step

It's not all one way or all the other

Bennett has good and bad in him like anybody else

What he has over Hook and most others, is runs on the board, and that despite sometimes making seemingly insane decisions, he has gotten results

Some of us focus on the results, whilst others focus on the bizarre selections etc.

We should focus a little bit less than 100% on one side, and admit there actually is another side, and the only way any of us will ever know if installing Benny as coach again is a good decision is to wait and see what results he brings

 

[Battler]

I'm not sure you remember Bennett previous broncos stint lol. I don't think there was a position he didn't stuff nuffies like stagg into. Stagg the halfback, the centre, the wing. McGuire the everything. Tonie Carroll the halfback.

I swear, people don't seem to be remembering what it was ACTUALLY like last time around.

We won a premiership with Stagg in the centres defending against GI, so Bennett must have had some sort of clue. The game (and Stagg) was different then, but I agree that it would be stupid to play defensive orientated forwards in the centres or 5/8 these days for anything more than a stopgap, given the speed of the game (doesn't stop our main man Griffin).

 

[mitch222]

Bennett won us 6 titles and had us in the 8 for 20 years. I don't know about you but I cant argue with that record. Regardless of his team selections, he always got the job done which is what we always expected. There is a reason why we call for coaches heads when we don't make the 8, because Bennett set the bar to that standard.

 

[Anonymous person]

Lucked out and won a premiership. Talk about not giving credit where it's due

2006 was about the luckiest premiership in the history of the NRL/ARL/NSWRL. everything came together for the broncos - their 3 best players hitting probably the best form of their careers, the opposition teams crumbling at the end of the season, playing their worst games of the year, and the referee basically gifting them the grand final on a silver platter through blatantly incorrect calls (something that was unheard of back then for the Broncos, we were usually on the other end). anyone who says it wasnt lucky has rocks in their head and/or didnt actually pay much attention in 2006.

Carroll, thaiday and Stagg can all pass. There is no sane argument that can reason they are a worse choice for five eight than hoggman

carroll, thaiday and stagg can all pass!? hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

none of them can pass, none have anyplaymaking skills whatsoever, and all were stupid selections. they were all worse than even the worst selections that griffin has made.

We won a premiership with Stagg in the centres defending against GI, so Bennett must have had some sort of clue.

the result of a team sport doesnt justify the out of position selection of a player who wasnt even a factor in the win. never has, never will.