The Wayne Bennett Super thread!

[Financeguy]

anyone who is saying they weren't talented didnt watch rugby league back then.

Of course, its because i didn't watch as much league as you which is why i disagree on Sau and Taia. :rolleyes:

Bennett obviously had no eye for talent at Newcastle, i'm converted.

 

[Socnorb]

i dont know, and frankly i dont care enough now to look with the way you guys are carrying on, completely fabricating bullshit, slapping each others arses, and then saying that somehow im avoiding answering questions cause it would prove me wrong.

i said there were a number of players he didnt like so got rid of, i named 3, and then the fabricating quotes started coming from your teams side. then it turned from "who did he get rid of?" to "they sucked anyway", then somehow they tried to turn it to a bellamy thread lol. ridiculous. count me out of this conversation. no point.

except entertainment value.

 

[Nashy]

https://broncoshq.com/brisbane-bron...first-grade-side-post2663380.html#post2663380

Right here you said it.

Bennett does this. Hes done it before, he'll do it again. Went to Newcastle and got rid of a bunch of super talented guys or just dropped them until they left without even giving them a chance, so he could bring in his old faithfuls. Did it again with barba undeniably. Flat out refused to even give him a chance. It's round 4 and vidot still hasn't seen a minute of game time while nuffy after nuffy have. Put 2 and 2 together.

 

[broncos4life]

i dont know, and frankly i dont care enough now to look with the way you guys are carrying on, completely fabricating bullshit, slapping each others arses, and then saying that somehow im avoiding answering questions cause it would prove me wrong.

i said there were a number of players he didnt like so got rid of, i named 3, and then the fabricating quotes started coming from your teams side. then it turned from "who did he get rid of?" to "they sucked anyway", then somehow they tried to turn it to a bellamy thread lol. ridiculous. count me out of this conversation. no point.

No thats not what you said.

You said that players like Zeb Taia & Junior Sau were hugely talented and with the right coach they could be anything, but Bennett just got rid of them.

When asked why if Junior Sau was so talented why did the storm only play him for 4 games before he disappeared into nothingness you tried to either ignore that or divert people away by arguing you never called them super, when you called them things like hugely talented.

Then when you had argued yourself into a corner, instead of acting like a grown up and admitted you are wrong, you claim you have been 'turned on' and that you want no part in this conversation anymore

 

[Anonymous person]

https://broncoshq.com/brisbane-bron...first-grade-side-post2663380.html#post2663380

Right here you said it.

i did say that, and i gave some names. what am i missing here? im sure there are more, but its clear that even if he did it to joey johns the people im arguing with would turn around and say he was a hack anyway.

they were hugely talented, bennett dropped them almost instantly and wouldnt even try and work with them. that's all there is to it. i dont give 2 shits what happened after that, its irrelevant. bennett refused to work with them and got rid of them quicksmart. thats what i said he did, and thats what he did.

 

[Financeguy]

i did say that, and i gave some names. what am i missing here? im sure there are more, but its clear that even if he did it to joey johns the people im arguing with would turn around and say he was a hack anyway.

No people wouldn't because Sau + Taia does not = Andrew Johns.

 

[Financeguy]

they were hugely talented, bennett dropped them almost instantly and wouldnt even try and work with them. that's all there is to it. i dont give 2 shits what happened after that, its irrelevant. bennett refused to work with them and got rid of them quicksmart. thats what i said he did, and thats what he did.

Huh??

Taia played 23 game with the Knights in 2012 and that was after he had signed with Super League early in the season.

How the hell is that being dropped instantly and being refused to work with???

Taia fucked his neck up in 2011. He started the season in 2012 and got a 3 year deal to play in Super League which he took when it was still unknown how his injury might impact him.

 

[Morkel]

At least we now know the difference between a "super" player and a "hugely talented" one.

I'm not sure how asking about his performances at the Storm is off-topic though. I mean, if Bennett dropped a "hugely talented" player, surely that player would be a success anywhere right? especially under a premiership winning coach. But let's take the coach out of this, it is Wayne's thread. How has the player in question performed, irrespective of club or coach, since being so rudely shuffled on? By the same token, if Hoffman or Barba or Kennedy start performing well, will you use that as an argument as to why Wayne is so foolish, or is that also beyond the scope of this hearing? Except Kennedy I mean.

 

[Ari Gold]

Hardly anyone that has been jettisoned by WB has gone on to become a "super" player, so to criticise WB in that way is wrong.

That said, I do have this perception that WB can be dismissive of players rather quickly. I think it's good that Barba is gone because of his salary (which was bigger than I thought). But did WB release him because of that or because he'd rather just have Boyd than work with a troubled talent?

It's an area where Bellamy excels. Rejects or out of favour guys like Sisa Waqa, Marika Koroibete, Bryan Norrie he is happy to try and coach them to play his way. Doesn't always work out (Lagi Setu, Romelo, Ben Roberts) but he's up for the challenge.

WB on the other hand, I feel he'd rather just recruit a guy he knows rather than take a chance.

As long as it doesn't interfere with our juniors (and with Kodi and Joe playing it hasn't so far) I don't mind, but I still believe WBs insistence on turning to players he knows rather than taking a chance on others he may not like is a weakness.

I could be wrong but I get the sense that maybe Vidot and Garbutt are in this category. I'm very happy Joe is playing but that he's ahead of Garbutt is a curiosity to me.

 

[Renegade]

to be fair though, that's because he can't afford to buy other players considering the big three have claimed a huge slice of their cap

 

[Ari Gold]

to be fair though, that's because he can't afford to buy other players considering the big three have claimed a huge slice of their cap

It's true that he can't, but it's still an area where if you can do that you're going to be a better coach and leave your club in a better position. Now, I don't think this will be an issue here at the Broncos, because we're not the fucking Knights, but I feel this approach has put the Knights back. Time and time again WB went to guys he knows or have a lot of experience (read: old). Other than Russell Packer, I don't recall him trying to sign anyone who would fit the mould of a reject that Bellamy would use.

McKinnon tragedy aside, I don't think the Knights pack is in a particularly good place as a result of Bennett's insistence on going with what he knows. Especially when you consider Smith is nearing retirement age and Beau Scott is probably leaving at the end of the season. They're lucky they signed Tariq.

Again, these are not things which are going to affect us too much from this point in time forward (we've already signed the old reliables WB likes) but I do feel it's a weakness, and one that I can certainly see would be frustrating if you're a fan of certain players.

But yeah, to say WB failed or some shit because Junior fucking Sau left is just wrong. But by the same taken, I can understand how it can be disappointing that WB didn't seemingly give Sau a chance, when he played a 32 year old Timana Tahu instead.

 

[OXY-351]

I don't think coaches should be judged on the players they let go. They should be judged on the players they retain or gain, taking the constraints of the salary cap in to account. And the results achieved based on that squad.

In a perfect world Wayne Bennett shouldn't have let go of Morris from the dragons, but even discounting salary cap, the squad he wanted won a premiership under his tenure. That's what any club employs a coach to do. Job done imo.

He couldn't acheive the same results at Newcastle and ultimately the buck stops with him, but it's laughable to suggest the players he got rid of were overly talented, nor would Newcastle have done significantly better had they been retained.

The question shouldn't be did he weaken the team by getting rid of those players, it should be did he strengthen the team by the players he replaced them with.

 

[Porthoz]

I think judgement should be based on whom the players are let go for, and in Newcastle's case, there are a few head scratchers.

Sometimes I think I understand why Bennett makes certain decisions, and then he goes and does something that conflicts with that.

So far this season, he hasn't done anything that shocks me, as even the Maranta/Vidot and Reed choices can be justified, or at least reasonably argued for, even if I don't agree with them.

I am very curious about what will happen once Copley and Boyd are back from injury.

 

[Nashy]

Maranta is a super talented player.

 

[Foordy]

Maranta is a super talented player.

yeah at bombing tries :takdir:

 

[Big Pete]

Before Bennett arrived, this is what a full-strength Knights side looked like...

1. Kurt Gidley 2. James McManus 3. Junior Sa'u 4. Adam MacDougall 5. Akuila Uate
6. Beau Henry 7 Jarrod Mullen
8. Antonio Kaufusi 9. Issac De Gois 10. Evarn Tuimavave 11. Zeb Taia 12. Neville Costigan 13. Chris Houston
14. Matt Hilder 15. Cory Paterson 16. Richard Fa'aoso 17. Daniel Tolar

Fair go to Stone, he did the best he could and got that team into the finals but it didn't appear they had a lot of ambition. Usually you look towards your 20s or NSW Cup for some up and coming talent but the Knights didn't even have a proper NSW Cup side (they had one of those weird joint ventures with the Central Coast) and their 20s barely scraped into the finals with such names as Will Smith, Ethan Cook & Sam Anderson.

It wasn't like there was a lot to work with.

And I don't blame Stone at all for that, if anything I blame Smith who has this compulsion to improve players which is great but doesn't lead to any real sustainable success.

And while it didn't show in the NRL side, the improvement in the lower grades was noticeable and it appears the Knights are on a better destination to what they were.

Meanwhile I don't think we were as dire and had a lot more to like about us than the Knights did in 2011 but Wayne had to even a few things out. Still early days and I'm sure there will be a lot of tears shed this season for one reason or another but there's been plenty of positives too.

 

[Anonymous person]

Maranta is a super talented player.

Talent is the main thing maranta lacks.

 

[Socnorb]

I think judgement should be based on whom the players are let go for, and in Newcastle's case, there are a few head scratchers.

Sometimes I think I understand why Bennett makes certain decisions, and then he goes and does something that conflicts with that.

So far this season, he hasn't done anything that shocks me, as even the Maranta/Vidot and Reed choices can be justified, or at least reasonably argued for, even if I don't agree with them.

I am very curious about what will happen once Copley and Boyd are back from injury.

We may find out re Copley this weekend. I read a report that he's pushing for inclusion this weekend. Broncos website.