CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
A Queensland dad, who isn’t really that into footy, has spent the last 12 hours in contemplated silence – after finally getting a good insight into how Wayne Bennett operates.
Fraser Coorey (58) says that outside of the State Of Origin, he only really watches footy when it’s playing at the pub.
But that doesn’t mean he’s not highly invested in the career of Queensland’s greatest ever sporting product, the iconic master rugby league coach Wayne Bennett.
After weeks of consuming pre-season promotional material against his will, Fraser cleared his schedule last night to watch Dawn Of The Dolphin, a new documentary the follows the debut season of the NRL’s newest franchise ‘The Dolphins’.
As a Queensland Cup club, the Redcliffe Dolphins have a proud history dating back to 1947 and the club has produced a long line of legends including the late Artie Beetson, Brent Tate, Petero Civoniceva and Toby Rudolf.
Their inclusion in the NRL has seen them forced to drop any form of geographical location, in perhaps the most poorly-thought-out branding decision to ever come out of a board room of meathead sporting administrators.
However, throughout this documentary, the decision to just name the club just ‘The Dolphins’ is quickly written off as a strategy to attract more fans outside of Northern Brisbane’s bayside suburb of Redcliffe – complete with the clearly bullshit excuse that ‘it is illegal to have two clubs playing in two competitions under the same name’.
However, outside of the dramatised administrative conversations taking place in The Dolphins HQ, the documentary offers a never-before-seen glimpse into the mind of Wayne Bennett.
This is what has has attracted the likes of Fraser, and every other Queensland dad around the country.
Fraser’s kids say not since Denzel Washington’s Man On Fire came out on Blu-Ray have they seen their dad sit motionless with the TV volume on full bore for this long – as he mainlines the unabridged access to one of Queensland’s favourite sons.
Between the mic’d up conversations between a hostile Bennett and sleazy player agents, as well as his gentle and fatherly interactions with his new signings – a vast majority of households across Queensland and outer-metropolitan Sydney have had the opportunity to meet their hero overnight.
“He just gets it” mutters Frasers, as he switches off the television after avoiding blinking for over 60 minutes straight.
“Phins up”
