The Broncos-Dolphins match on Friday evening is precisely that. It is true that sometimes – like when,say,the Warriors play the Titans – an NRL match can look much like video wallpaper. It is vaguely interesting,but mostly just blokes you don’t really know or care about running into each other at pace,often with a blowout score beckoning.
The Dragons have told coach Anthony Griffin he will need to reapply for his job as he fights for a new contract.
This NRL season has been much better,and it continues to be staggering how often games remain in the balance until the final whistle. It hasn’t been every match,but it’s pretty bloody close!
The breakout narrative for the season so far is how well the newly established Dolphins,under the stewardship of Wayne Bennett,have been going. Most people expected that their best hope of a victory lap this year would be winning the toss. Instead they are unbeaten after three rounds.
An almost equal surprise has been the Broncos under the coaching of Kevin Walters. Under Walters’ stewardship in the past couple of years,the Broncos promised much but delivered little,fading as the season progressed. Last year,it looked like he might be let go,particularly after one of his rising stars,Selwyn Cobbo, that Walters was a good bloke but not a great coach.
So the Broncos,too,were thought likely to do what they have done for yonks:fade,just when it was all before them. But they,too,have won the first three matches of the season,hence the interest in Friday night’s match. Not only is it a derby,not only is it a top-of-the-table clash,but it pits two of the most old-school characters in the game against each other. It also has the added spice that Walters used to be coached by Bennett – they were close – and much of what Walters knows about the caper likely came from that experience.
Kevin Walters and Wayne Bennett go head to head when the Broncos take on the Dolphins on Friday night.NRL Photos
But what interests me most,and is most compelling for sporting theatre,is Bennett himself.
Earlier this week,Cooper Cronk mentioned to me in passing that Bennett would be just as successful if he coached the Wallabies – not because he knows a lot about rugby,but because he knows a lot about young men. Cronk’s theme was that more than anyone in the coaching game,Bennett establishes a relationship with players where he cares for them,they care for him,and the players care for each other. The result is a powerful team. It was by Souths coach Jason Demetriou,talking to Andrew Webster a week ago about the virtues of the two NRL coaches he worked with as an assistant,the late Paul Green and Bennett.
The Dolphins’ success has been the big surprise of the season so far.Getty Images
“Greenie taught me a lot about attention to detail. He was really specific about how he wanted us to play,what it looked like and how it was going to happen. Wayne is more about,‘How do I get this guy excited about wearing this jersey?’ He does that in a unique way,with different personalities. His ability to connect with people of all different backgrounds and ages is his strength.”
And he’s been doing it for – dot three,carry one,subtract two – more than 45 years!
The surly one has never tried to be one of the boys – he doesn’t drink,smoke or gamble,for starters – but like the stories I have heard about Craig Bellamy at his best,Bennett’s players feel like they are more than numbers,andwant to play for him,and win.
I repeat:he’s been doing it a long time.
This week a reader,Tim Wilson,sent me the copy of a program from the 1979 Brisbane Rugby League grand final,between the mighty Fortitude Valley Diehards and the Southern Suburbs. It presents as a fascinating time capsule.
Playing for the Valleys team that day was a lock by the name of Wally Lewis,who’d left school the year before. A chunky bloke from the bush,Chris “Choppy” Close,was in the centres. Their “captain/coach” – this was back in the day when that was still quite the thing – was legendary halfback Ross Strudwick,who would puff on a durry while delivering his team talk at half-time!
The Brisbane Rugby League grand final program from 1979.Supplied
For Souths,the rising star was one Mal Meninga,playing in his first year in A grade,and the coach was – are you way ahead of me? – a recently retired police officer by the name of Wayne Bennett. He had taken over the team two years earlier and his first season delivered a wooden spoon. Untroubled,he said it would take another two years to lift the team to the top of the leaderboard,but it wasn’t easy. At the beginning of the 1979 season,Souths could offer only $200 for a win,so 16 players walked out.
No matter. Bennett didn’t blink.
“Somehow,” as Wilson notes,“Bennett managed to mould a bunch of reserve graders and C-graders and take them all the way to the granny.”
The game almost didn’t happen. On the Thursday evening,a disgruntled player from Gympie – who had just copped a long suspension – protested by chopping down the Lang Park goalposts,as you do.
On the day,the Fortitude Valley blokes,led by Lewis – who was man of the match – were too strong and won 26-0. But the foundations of Bennett’s successful coaching career were laid and . . .
And you get the drift. The Bennett story really is astonishing. He started coaching and was successful in an era when other coaches smoked at half-time,where $200 a match counted as professionalism,where a bloke taking an axe to the goalposts wasn’t out of the box.
And somehow,the most notable thing he brings to the table – care – is still relevant and working in an age when players are on millions and it sometimes seems coaching is more science than art.
I suspect the Broncos will win on Friday,but either way,it is a great bit of sporting theatre.
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