Legendary NRL coach Wayne Bennett has delivered another all-time post-match press conference after his Dolphins brought Magic Round to a close with victory over the Tigers on Sunday evening.
Never short of a quip or a dry comment, the veteran mastermind was at his best as he opened up on his team’s performance and his all-but-confirmed move to South Sydney next season.
It started in ripping fashion when the Dolphins coach was asked to describe his side’s performance in the 24-12 win.
Bennett summed it up simply: “The good, the bad, and the ugly.”
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The journalist duly asked the obvious follow-up question – and the exchange went like this:
Q: What was good?
A: Two points.
Q: What was bad?
A: The way we played with the football.
Q: What about the ugly part?
A: Just being out there and looking like we weren’t interested.
Captain Jesse Bromwich echoed his coach’s words, saying: “Just our discipline and our completion rate really let us down. We come here, we knew they were going to try hard. We wanted to come and get the two points.
“We got the two points, but like Wayno said – it was pretty ugly.”
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Bennett added later: “You know you’re going to have some of those days and those moments. We had that today. We wouldn’t have won this game last year. We would have lost this game … because we couldn’t defend as good as we can now.”
Next up, his Dolphins travel to Auckland to take on a red-hot Warriors side fresh from victory over the Panthers.
Bennett interrupted a question about his next opponents with a sarcastic interjection: “That’s something to look forward to, aye?”
As for how he’ll prepare the team for that tough clash?
“We’ll be right.”
Enough said.
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Then things turned to the ongoing reports that he’ll take over the Rabbitohs next season after his scheduled departure from Redcliffe – and the press conference got even better.
Asked whether he has mixed feelings about leaving the team – given he’s got the ‘Phins flying with seven wins putting them in the top four – Bennett kept things short: “No.”
The journalist replied: “None at all?”
Bennett answered: “None at all.”
The 74-year-old is organising his own contract with South Sydney without the help of a manager – something he was all too happy to point out when a reporter asked if his Rabbitohs contract was ‘basically a done deal’.
Bennett bit back: “I don’t have to worry about managers leaking stuff to you, do I? When you do your own deal. It’s good.”
Another journalist piped up to ask whether the ongoing discussion of Bennett’s future had become a distraction to the Dolphins squad.
Bennett said: “Everybody knew I was finishing at Redcliffe at the end of the season. Three years ago we all knew that when I made the decision (to come here).”
Yet another journalist bravely asked: “Will you put us out of our misery this week then?”
True to form, Bennett dryly replied: “I’ll do that for you.”
Believe that one if you will.
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Asked how he’ll handle the latter half of the season, knowing that he’s moving on and needs to start planning with his new club, Bennett replied: “I’m moved on from a few clubs in my life at the same situation. It’s not new to me,” he chuckled. “I’m experienced at it, I know how to handle it.
“The key thing is everybody knows what’s going on, that’s the key to it, and just gets on with life.
“They’ve got staff down there, they’ll look after things, they’ll make sure things are happening until I get there.
“(Interim coach) Ben Hornby’s doing a great job right now. I certainly want him on the coaching staff with me when I go there. It’ll be a pretty easy transition.”
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But then came a bold declaration not to raid the Dolphins’ stocks of talented young players.
Bennett firmly stated: “I won’t be taking any of their kids that they want to keep. That’s not going to happen. I didn’t set about building this club to try and destroy it. That’s just not going to happen, okay?
“But if there’s a guy there that they’re not offering a contract to or he’s looking to go somewhere else and I think he can play a bit, that’ll be a different thing.
“I want all of his (new Dolphins coach Kristian Woolf’s) players to stay there.”
As for the Rabbitohs roster and off-season plans to strengthen the squad, Bennett said he hadn’t begun planning yet – all-but-confirming that a deal is imminent.
“I haven’t because I haven’t signed a contract yet,” he said. “I need to stay focused here and I think I’ll be pretty good at that.”
Good at that, and a master of the press conference arts.
Source Agencies
