‘He doesn’t give a f***’: Bennett’s secret to making larrikins thrive — Extra Time

Eamonn Tiernan is the lead NRL reporter at foxsports.com.au and he writes Extra Time fortnightly.

Wayne Bennett can be stubborn, he can be proud and he can certainly be petty. But there’s one thing he’ll park all that for in an instant.

Winning.

It’s why he doesn’t care if his players go out for beers the night before the game, hell, the teetotaller has even been known to occasionally shout them.

Bennett doesn’t really care what his players do in their spare time as long as when that whistle blows they deliver.

Not trying to understand young men is how he’s been able to understand them for over 50 years now.

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It’s why he didn’t think twice about signing Roosters misfit Brandon Smith just three years after the hooker pulled the wool over his eyes.

At the end of 2021, Smith went to Queensland, looked Bennett in the eyes and gave him his word that he’d sign with the Dolphins.

A week later he signed with the Roosters.

Things haven’t worked out for Smith at Bondi Junction and now he’s back on the lookout for a new club and once again on the cusp of signing with Bennett.

This time the deal will almost certainly go through and Smith will become the latest in a series of rugby league ratbags to play for the super coach.

From Allan Langer to Willie Mason and a host of other high-profile players, many of whom managed to keep their ratbag behaviour out of the public eye, Bennett simply lets players be themselves.

Gorden Tallis, who is no shrinking violet himself, won three premierships under Bennett at the Broncos and revealed the secret to his former coach’s success.

“He doesn’t give a f***, you can write that. Wayne does not give a f*** unless it’s about footy and that’s where he judges you,” Tallis told foxsports.com.au.

“He couldn’t give a f*** what you do outside of footy. Not one.

“Wayne’s asleep by 8pm, Wayne doesn’t know what Brandon Smith does outside of footy and he doesn’t care. Wayne’s not going to judge him on anything but football.

“Everyone overthinks it and because he doesn’t talk. Wayne’s secret is he doesn’t give a f*** but he won’t let the secret out so everyone speaks for him (in the media) and says he’ll sort players out and this and that, but he really doesn’t care.

“Wayne is not a micromanager, he lets men be men and some coaches need to learn from that.”

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Souths coach Wayne Bennett. Getty Source: Getty Images

Nobody gets more out of the game’s colourful characters than Bennett, who once famously quipped “if you have a team full of choir boys you’ll win nothing”.

“It’s rugby league, mate, you have to have those players in the group. You can’t have 10 of them but every team needs at least one,” Tallis said.

“You look at blokes who throw a ball over the sideline and they worry about it. Then you look at people like Cameron Munster, they kick it out on the full and they’ve got goldfish brains, he doesn’t care. Jimmy Maloney is another classic example.

“You need those guys who are a bit pesty around the group, and Wayne has dealt with plenty of them.”

As for Smith breaking his word to Bennett at the Dolphins back in 2021.

“Wayne is about winning and if you don’t have a thick skin in this game, you shouldn’t be in it,” Tallis said.

“Wayne has knocked back clubs in exactly the same way Brendan did to him… Wayne has done the same thing. It’s footy.

“Brandon is a player that’s going to add value to his footy team and Wayne backs himself to get the most out of him, simple as that.”

Brandon Smith. Source: Getty Images

FIVE OF THE BEST

All the talk in recent years has been about the NRL’s lack of quality halves, but there’s an argument to be made we’re on the cusp of a great playmaking era.

Between Lachlan Galvin, Isaiya Katoa, Ethan Strange, Fletcher Sharpe and Jamie Humphries, the future of the game looks in safe hands.

Cooper Cronk is the best example in modern rugby league history of a player working and thinking his way to greatness.

Cronk was a talented teenager but he wasn’t exactly touted as a prodigy that would go on to conquer the NRL and play in a staggering nine NRL grand finals.

Foxsports.com.au asked to run the comb through the most exciting halves prospects in the competition and he tipped a bright future for the Raiders.

“If young halves like to tackle and run hard… you can teach any type of skill to kids with that will and determination,” Cronk told foxsports.com.au.

“Ethan Strange is tenacious, he’s tough, he’s aggressive and they’re the kind of traits that you can teach any kind of nuance of ball-playing to because they’ve always got this mindset that they want to run the ball and they’re not afraid of contact.

“I don’t know Ethan Sanders… but the way the game is going, you’re probably going to need a little bit more out of Jamal Fogarty so I’d say Sanders will get some game time soon.”

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Phil Gould believes Galvin is generational talent and Cronk likes what he sees in Tigers halfback he calls “the kid”.

“There’s no doubt he’s talented. The one thing I love about Galvin, he’s got this mindset that he wants to be involved,” Cronk said.

“Like he just runs around wanting his hands on the football, which for a young kid is a really good trait to have because if you think about how many young halves come in and struggle to touch the ball, struggle to have an impact and then 30 minutes have gone in the game and they haven’t been sighted.

“Whereas this kid is not reckless but he’s just wildly enthusiastic and that’s cool, I like it. He’s going to have some rough times, he’s going to have some great times but he’ll find his mojo and yeah, he looks solid.

“His relationship with Benji will be the key to whether he stays at the club.”

Sharpe will partner Newcastle’s $13 million man Dylan Brown next season but Cronk wants to see more from the 20-year-old.

“Look, he’s a ball runner but I haven’t seen any signs of his ability to be a ball player yet,” Cronk said.

“I think he’s really raw in the No. 6 jersey, I just haven’t seen enough yet. He finds space really well, so if someone can create space for him it helps him.

“People who transition from outside backs to the halves, normally they need to search for space and if someone can create space for them then that helps.

“I like what Kalyn (Ponga) is doing, he’s not just playing fullback but halfback and No. 6 and fullback… but if Fletcher Sharpe can keep a mindset of running the ball it can only be a good thing for Newcastle because he breaks tackles and scores tries.”

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The Rabbitohs have $650,000 English recruit Lewis Dodd playing reserve grade after Wayne Bennett picked the unknown Jamie Humphries to be his halfback.

Humphries repaid the faith by booting his side to victory in the opening two games of the season and Cronk said the No. 7 jersey is now his to lose.

“The thing about Lewis Dodd, I’ll be honest I haven’t seen a lot but the question mark I have is, not too many halves have come here from England and dominated,” Cronk said.

“The England players who come out here and have successful careers are middle forwards.

“Halves struggle because of the speed of game, rushing defensive lines and it’s more physical. You have less time to make good decisions, in a nutshell

“For Lewis Dodd to lead Souths, given the position Souths are in after last year, he has to be a generational player.

“It says a lot that Humphries was given first crack and is staying there.”

WARRIORS’ HOLIDAY IS OVER

It’s fair to say the Warriors enjoyed their time in Las Vegas and it was clear by the time game day arrived that they were still in tourist mode.

A flogging at the hands of the Raiders ensued and word from across the ditch is that the players were given quite the rev up after getting back to New Zealand.

To their credit, they responded in style.

The Kiwi side were underdogs at home against a red-hot Sea Eagles and despite conceding early, they proceeded to put the cleaners through Anthony Seibold’s side.

Andrew Webster knows he’s coaching for his future this season as a repeat of last year won’t be tolerated at a club that has made such huge gains in popularity in recent years.

The Warriors became the first club in NRL history to sell out every home game last year, but the support is already waning as they failed to continue the sellout streak in their first home game last Friday.

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