Wayne Bennett & late season slumps

[Bull Shark]

For all of his success, the master coach is also building quite a record in recent years of teams he's coached going from positions of strength to a sudden and dramatic late season fade-out.

here's the skinny:

2001 (Broncos) Lost 8 of last 10
2002 (Broncos) Lost 4 of last 5
2003 (Broncos) Lost 10 of last 11
2004 (Broncos) Lost 4 of last 6 (included a draw)
2005 (Broncos) Lost last 7 straight
2007 (Broncos) Lost 5 of last 6
2009 (Dragons) Lost 5 of last 6
2011 (Dragons) Lost 8 of last 10* (season not complete yet)

Sure the origin period has probably had a considerable hand in the above but still ...

 

[Anonymous person]

i stand by what i said in another thread where this came up:

IMO bennett goes about the season the wrong way. being number 1 from weeks 1-16 or so means nothing. like ive said before, the other teams all use the first half of the season to experiment with gameplans, tactics, player positions, interchanges, etc - but bennett always just sticks to his guns and plays how hes going to play his team in september in march-september. it makes his team predictable when it gets to the pointy end of the season, and it also puts so much unnecessary pressure on the players because they were number 1/2/3 for most of the season and all of a sudden theyre losing games and theyre copping criticism when it comes to the backend of the season.

the other good teams 'time their run' in to the finals. they pick up the pace at crunch time. they fire on all cylinders. bennetts teams have never really done this.

also, im not sure if you counted in your stats but for 4-5 of those years iirc we didnt win a single finals match either despite making the finals every year.

having said that, im absolutely loving watching St George fall apart at the moment lol. its taking a lot of the sheen off their premiership last year if you ask me, as now its looking like they kinda won it 'by default' since melbourne were taken out of the running.

 

[Coxy]

True. Look at the finals record in that time too:

2001 (Broncos) Won 1, lost 2
2002 (Broncos) Won 1, lost 1
2003 (Broncos) Lost 1
2004 (Broncos) Lost 2
2005 (Broncos) Lost 2
2006 (Broncos) Won 3, lost 1
2007 (Broncos) Lost 1
2008 (Broncos) Won 1, Lost 1
2009 (Dragons) Lost 2
2010 (Dragons) Won 3

So Bennett's finals record since 2001 is Won 9, lost 13.

Agree with AP. I think Bennett's focus has been too much on getting a simple but necessarily intense game plan and stick to it. As a result Bennett teams rarely "easily" win games, they often graft them out. Late season, when players start feeling mental and physical fatigue, they can't keep up the effort required to stay in those grinding games, or find that bit extra to be the difference against teams peaking at this time of year.

For Newcastle I'd be concerned. They have a bad history of players burning out and being injured late season. How on earth are they going to cope?

 

[Coxy]

Haha. Won it be default because of Melbourne? So you're suggesting the Storm would have won the comp last year if they didn't lose their points? Fair dinkum, that'll do me. Are you also forgoetting how good the Roosters were coming into the finals as well? Who knows how well the Storm would have went.

No gloss has come off the Dragons win last year, they were outstanding.

^^^ This. Just like the Broncos' 2006 premiership isn't tarnished by the fact the Broncos underperformed in seasons before and after (debatable about after TBH).

 

[Coxy]

It's an interesting question. 2006 was quite different in that he gave the Broncos nearly 2 weeks off footy altogether at the end of the Origin series. It meant the slump came earlier not out of tiredness, but out of being off their game almost intentionally.

Then they changed things up with a few positional switches - Berrigan to hooker, Hodges to fullback etc. It created some variety and freshness.

I don't recall the Dragons "freshening" their approach last year, they didn't really have a slump though. Worst period was 4 losses in 7 games just after Origin. Seems they just managed to keep their momentum.

 

[Bull Shark]

Agree with AP. I think Bennett's focus has been too much on getting a simple but necessarily intense game plan and stick to it. As a result Bennett teams rarely "easily" win games, they often graft them out. Late season, when players start feeling mental and physical fatigue, they can't keep up the effort required to stay in those grinding games, or find that bit extra to be the difference against teams peaking at this time of year.

For Newcastle I'd be concerned. They have a bad history of players burning out and being injured late season. How on earth are they going to cope?

Craig Bellamy coaches a very similar game plan to Bennett and his storm troopers just keep ploughing on through week after week after week after week.

Maybe the whole 'tourettes' thing terrifies them out of any let up :ranting:

 

[mrslong]

It's an interesting question. 2006 was quite different in that he gave the Broncos nearly 2 weeks off footy altogether at the end of the Origin series. It meant the slump came earlier not out of tiredness, but out of being off their game almost intentionally.

Then they changed things up with a few positional switches - Berrigan to hooker, Hodges to fullback etc. It created some variety and freshness.

I don't recall the Dragons "freshening" their approach last year, they didn't really have a slump though. Worst period was 4 losses in 7 games just after Origin. Seems they just managed to keep their momentum.

Getting knocked out of the finals in 2009 and not having a premiership in 30 years really drove them to succeed. They were hungry to win.

This year they don't have that hunger. So it's harder for them to maintain momentum.

Just really proves how awesome the Broncos were in 93 & 98 to go back to back.

 

[Coxy]

Craig Bellamy coaches a very similar game plan to Bennett and his storm troopers just keep ploughing on through week after week after week after week.

Maybe the whole 'tourettes' thing terrifies them out of any let up :ranting:

Haha. Think it's more likely a case that Bellamy coaches so well and so consistently that every player knows precisely their role when they come in. Broncos teams especially have difficulty with that continuity when they have to call players up from 20s or Q Cup because of the disjointed playing style of each different team.

My understanding is Storm teams, no matter what grade or comp they play in, play to the exact same structure and style of the first grade side (or at least as close as is possible). They also have an insane focus on physical fitness, which I think probably limits burn out.

As per the other thread, I hate the Storm's style of play (primarily defensively), but there's no denying Bellamy does it better than anyone else and has players at a physical condition that is perfect for what they try to do.

 

[Bull Shark]

Getting knocked out of the finals in 2009 and not having a premiership in 30 years really drove them to succeed. They were hungry to win.

This year they don't have that hunger. So it's harder for them to maintain momentum.

Just really proves how awesome the Broncos were in 93 & 98 to go back to back.

Was a very very different competition back in the 90's when the Broncos won those successive premierships. Because they weren't forced to shed their talent to stay within the rules (salary cap) the Broncos were a fair way superior to probably every other team in the league back then.

Nowadays there's barely a struck match between 95% of the field in terms of personel.

 

[m1c]

With large representations, WB seems to place emphasis on getting some wins on the board before origin. I'm not sure if that plays a role in burn out. At the moment I'm happy to reserve judgement on the Dragons, they seem to be improving each week which leads you to suspect they vacated town for the best part of 2 weeks ala us in '06. IMO they were pretty damn good against the Storm.

It certainly doesn't help that their general in Soward is obviously playing injured. His last couple of games have been the worst offerings I've seen from him in years. Boyd also seems to have his mind elsewhere. When two of your spine are struggling there's no doubt any team will struggle.

 

[Professor47]

With large representations, WB seems to place emphasis on getting some wins on the board before origin.

Yes. I've heard him say it before in an interview. His opinion is to attain the competition points required to make the play offs early so you don't have to be in a situation where you have to win 6 from 8 later in the season or rely on other results etc. Personally, I agree... as long as you've got about a 3 match momentum leading into the finals and a fit squad with your key players rolling that should be enough.
Don't forget when you break it down... we were REALLY unlucky...
03 - Locky injured (came back a week or so before play offs) - losing streak.
04 - Same.
05 - Same.
06 - WIN
07 - Million people injured
08 - heartbreak

09 - doin fine but came up against a red hot Eels round 1 / a red hot Broncs rd 2
10 - WIN

IMO the reason his teams struggle towards the end is because his gameplans are not diverse and other teams have gained momentum. WB doesn't really exploit opposition teams weaknesses as much as other coaches so I think that is a factor as well.