CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
Veteran NRL coach Wayne Bennett has made a strong start on day 1 at his newest club, as he begins blooding the competition’s 17th team.
The supercoach has today had lay out a few ground rules at his new workplace, after signing a four-year deal with the Redcliffe Dolphins, who will hit the paddock in 2023 as Brisbane’s 2nd team.
Club officials had no option but to listen to Bennett, who holds the record for Grand Final wins in Australia with seven and led South Sydney to the 2021 Grand Final where they lost to Penrith.
“Listen here…” Bennett told the media today.
“This is a big job… So obviously I take the big jobs seriously”
“And I’ve just gotta find the balance between their way and my way”
However, the one question that sports journalists want answers to is whether there will be a conflict of interest in Wayne’s mind, as someone who was also head coach of the Brisbane Broncos when they entered the cop as the first Queensland team.
Bennett has dismissed all suggestions that he’ll be thinking about anything else except the task at hand.
“When I started in 1988 with the Broncos, we had virtually nothing. But it’s a wonderful facility here, extremely well run and very successful, so it’s a different context.
The 71-year-old pioneer of modern rugby league also says he’s not in the business of shaking things up too much within an already historic institution like the Redcliffe Dolphins.
“This is an established club and I recognise that, it’s my job to come and work within this framework.” he told the media today.
“There’s only a couple things I wanna change”
Bennett sighed
“Namely, that dolphin they’ve got held captive in that bizarre aquarium inside the clubhouse”
“I’m hardly a bleeding heart tree hugger… But that shit is not on”
Club officials say they thought this might be on the cards, after witnessing their new coach form an adorable lifelong bond with the club mascot, Petero the Dolphin.
“Look at the poor bugger. He’s in there by himself”
“We cannot keep a live dolphin captive in this clubhouse”
“If I do one thing as head coach of Redcliffe…”
“It will be breaking that animal out of his tank and setting him free in Moreton Bay”
