Wayne Bennett: Gagai shouldn’t have been sacked

[QLD JANE]

You mean the same Paul White who came out in support of Hook's decision at the time, or are you talking about Milford's conditioning?

You do realise since WB coming back to the Broncos, he has tried to signed Gagai several times.
You don’t think WB has never spoken to Paul White about why Gagai was sacked in the first place?
So why is WB coming out and saying Gagai should never have been sacked in the first place?

 

[Jason Simmons]

You mean the same Paul White who came out in support of Hook's decision at the time, or are you talking about Milford's conditioning?

The very same CEO who publicly supported him right up until he sacked him, yes.

Depends which Milford you are referring to and which season. See much wrong with it in 2014/15? See much wrong with his conditioning at the end of this season (not counting a bung shoulder which is irrelevant to this discussion IMHO)? Have you forgotten earlier about Wayne’s more relaxed attitude towards a player’s weight and that he isn’t particularly interested in what they weigh, so long as they play well?

A marked difference to an authoritarian who insisted players bulk, no matter their position or style of play and not just add lean muscle mass over time with usual NRL conditioning in order to force them to play far heavier than their usual playing weights, thinking somehow this will make them better with subsequent results showing the complete opposite and the overall futility and ludicrousness of such thinking...

 

[Porthoz]

I don't really see it as hypocritical. Bennett has always been lenient on talented yet lazy trainers. I believe his attitude was 'so long as they bring their boots on game day' or something to that effect. Gagai fits right into that mould. He's shown how good he is, making rep teams and killing it while playing for a triple-spoon Newcastle. Now that thinking may be stuck in the 90's but I think if Wayne was coach at the time, Gagai would still be here.

Principal/Dictator Hook is a completely different person and coach. I think he felt that it was his moment to show he control his players and was the right man for the club. A lot of players were happy with him, a lot also weren't it seems.

Both sides have their valid points. He obviously needed a kick up the arse (or several) but sacking him was the wrong move in my opinion. Hindsight is 20/20 sure, but he was always a good player. Talent doesn't excuse him, but unless he's DUI'ing, involved with hard drugs or assaulting people, he didn't need to get booted. Play him in reggies for the rest of the year or until he shapes up. It's easy to equate it to a regular job, but most regular jobs have a much broader employee base. Compounding the issue was releasing him and not signing an equal replacement

It may sound like I'm defending Hook's methods, but I'm merely arguing this particular case, not defending Anthony Griffin.

Yes, Dane might well still be with us if WB was the coach. But he wasn't, Griffin was, and he had his own standards he demanded from the players. It's not up to Bennett to stick his nose into other coaches' business or how they go about it, like it isn't any other coach's business to meddle in Wayne's.

Your sentence in bold is of important relevance here.
How many players have you seen flourish after a change of environment, and why is it so easy to believe Wayne's release of Taylor was for the player's benefit, and not Gagai's?

Clearly Griffin doesn't have Bennett's talent to deal with problem cases, but he knew discipline wasn't going to fix it.
There were months of issues leading up to his release, and while reggies might have been a suitable punishment, it may also have meant the end of his career, because it wouldn't have removed him from the poisonous environment he was in. So they decided to release him instead, knowing he would have to move away from it.
Luck brought him to the person he could benefit most from, in a mentoring point of view, and he delivered on his potential.

Blaming Hook, and pretending this all had to do with fattening the player, is of incredible pettiness, and frankly below Wayne. But then again, he had no issue offering his services to the club while Griffin was still on the job.

 

[QLD JANE]

Straight from Gagai’s mouth.
As I expected reason why he was late for training he was up late trying to get fat.
He would wake up early in the morning to get fat.
Are we calling Gagai a liar?
Are we calling WB a liar?
Are we calling WB sources liars?

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...r/news-story/4de14643038f7a4d043cd2c59aaf2dfd


“It wasn’t because I was too heavy, it because I was too light. I was a Murri kid coming from North Queensland and if you look at my legs now they’re still pretty bony,” Gagai said.
“I really struggled putting on weight. They wanted big outside backs so I’d stay up late trying to eat, I’d get up in the early hours of the morning to eat. Then that just got a bit tough and I was late to a few sessions.”

 

[Porthoz]

The very same CEO who publicly supported him right up until he sacked him, yes.

Depends which Milford you are referring to and which season. See much wrong with it in 2014/15? See much wrong with his conditioning at the end of this season (not counting a bung shoulder which is irrelevant to this discussion IMHO)? Have you forgotten earlier about Wayne’s more relaxed attitude towards a player’s weight and that he isn’t particularly interested in what they weigh, so long as they play well?

A marked difference to an authoritarian who insisted players bulk, no matter their position or style of play and not just add lean muscle mass over time with usual NRL conditioning in order to force them to play far heavier than their usual playing weights, thinking somehow this will make them better with subsequent results showing the complete opposite and the overall futility and ludicrousness of such thinking...

So now Paul White is the hypocrite, and Wayne's player conditioning is only valid when it's not his players whom are bulked up, like Milford was last season and this (by Bennett's own admission), to the point he became a running joke on this same forum?

You seem to think I'm defending Griffin's methods.
This went from Gagai was sacked because of pressure to eat junk food, to how both coaches approach their job.

Even if there may be truth to Hook's demands to bulk up, the junk food stories are hyperbole, and Gagai was not released because of diet or pressure to put on weight, but his inability to abide by the rules everyone else was abiding to.

 

[Porthoz]

Straight from Gagai’s mouth.
As I expected reason why he was late for training he was up late trying to get fat.
He would wake up early in the morning to get fat.
Are we calling Gagai a liar?
Are we calling WB a liar?
Are we calling WB sources liars?

https://www.foxsports.com.au/nrl/nr...r/news-story/4de14643038f7a4d043cd2c59aaf2dfd


“It wasn’t because I was too heavy, it because I was too light. I was a Murri kid coming from North Queensland and if you look at my legs now they’re still pretty bony,” Gagai said.
“I really struggled putting on weight. They wanted big outside backs so I’d stay up late trying to eat, I’d get up in the early hours of the morning to eat. Then that just got a bit tough and I was late to a few sessions.”

Yes I am, to both questions in bold.

 

[QLD JANE]

Yes, I am.

There we have it.
You’re more stupid than I first thought.

 

[Porthoz]

There we have it.
You’re more stupid than I first thought.

Well, not sure whether to take this as an insult or a compliment. I think I'll go with the latter, taking this thread into account. :porthozthinksthisishot:

 

[tommy]

The off-season is such an intriguing time on BHQ

 

[Aldo]

I hope they kept up a good supply of Metamucil to keep them regular.

All I know is Hook was shit when he was at the Broncos and isn't that much better at the Panthers.

 

[broncos4life]

You mean the same Paul White who came out in support of Hook's decision at the time, or are you talking about Milford's conditioning?

A CEO publicly supporting his coach? A bold move for sure.

 

[broncos4life]

It may sound like I'm defending Hook's methods, but I'm merely arguing this particular case, not defending Anthony Griffin.

Don’t worry mate, I think everyone realises
you’re taking the opportunity to attack Bennett rather than defend Hook.

 

[Sproj]

I can’t believe I read all that, what a waste of time because we are all missing the elephant in the room here:

2 litres of full cream milk before bed??? If that were me, I’d be throwing up or having diarrhea before my head hit the pillow.

 

[Foordy]

Is it a sackable offense?
In WB eyes it’s not.

How many times do you need to be told ... Wayne Bennett was not the coach of the Brisbane Broncos at the time ... it is not up to him to decide what actions are acceptable to other coaches and what other coaches deem a sackable offense.

Bennett may allow talented players to get away with lazy training or showing up late/missing training altogether. Griffin doesn't and it was his call to make. Griffin decided that since Gagai didn't heed repeated warnings his hands were forced.

You do realise since WB coming back to the Broncos, he has tried to signed Gagai several times.

Gagai is a different player since his sacking. he no longer takes his career for granted. in fact, he may not have even realised his potential and received rep selection if it wasn't for being sack and getting his wake up call.

Are we calling Gagai a liar?

well, since he has now given two stories about his sacking ...

 

[BroncsFan]

... it is not up to him to decide what actions are acceptable to other coaches and what other coaches deem a sackable offense.

Just regarding this... it actually is his responsibility given he as the coach of Newcastle decided to sign a guy that had just been sacked. He would need to know the reasoning for his sacking before being able to justify his club investing in this player. It's risk vs opportunity to a business.

It's not his role to publicly call it out but I'm sure he had a pretty good idea why he was sacked and didn't deem it sufficient to warrant being sacked. Hence he was happy to take him on

 

[Foordy]

Just regarding this... it actually is his responsibility given he as the coach of Newcastle decided to sign a guy that had just been sacked. He would need to know the reasoning for his sacking before being able to justify his club investing in this player. It's risk vs opportunity to a business.

It's not his role to publicly call it out but I'm sure he had a pretty good idea why he was sacked and didn't deem it sufficient to warrant being sacked. Hence he was happy to take him on

I reiterate ... it is not up to him to decide what is acceptable to other coaches and what they deem as sackable offences.

Bennett has always loved giving second chances to players of talent. look at his pursuits of Lodge and Packer as an example ... and they were a different universe away from Gagai missing training sessions.

 

[Nashy]

I can’t believe I read all that, what a waste of time because we are all missing the elephant in the room here:

2 litres of full cream milk before bed??? If that were me, I’d be throwing up or having diarrhea before my head hit the pillow.

If it was Maleny full cream Gold, easy. Love that shit.

 

[Nashy]

That's not the argument, though. The argument is whether we as fans think Hook's decision was acceptable. There's obviously a mix of opinions, but there is no one answer as being correct, although there seems to be that attitude.

I think it was a horrible decision personally. But I think the entire Hook experience was a big bag of awful.