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.
