Opponents beware of Bennett's guile

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SPEAKING to Wayne Bennett a few days before Newcastle took on reigning premiers Melbourne Storm last weekend reminded me of a story I once heard about Walter Hagen, the great American golfer of the 1920s.

Chasing his fourth consecutive US PGA title Hagen made the final of the then one-on-one match play tournament.

In the early hours of the morning of the match the notorious playboy was spotted by the doorman at the players' hotel, weaving up the driveway dressed in his dinner suit and obviously a trifle worse for wear.

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"Mr Hagen," said the doorman.

"What are you doing? Your opponent has been in bed asleep for hours."

"He may be in bed," slurred Hagen, "but he hasn't been asleep."

Bennett's opponent on Saturday is Roosters coach Trent Robinson. I'm guessing on Friday night the 36-year-old will be getting to bed early. But he won't be sleeping.

Bennett, on the other hand, is so relaxed it was a wonder he stayed awake during my interview.

How can a man so close to another premiership be so calm, you ask? The answer is in the reply he gave when I asked about what motivated him after so many years and so much success in the game.

"Just to see us all come together as individuals," he said.

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"When I arrived 18 months ago we were way off the pace of being a really good football team. Bringing all that together, getting the mix right, seeing young men fulfil their dreams and being given the opportunity to do that. That pleases me."

And that's why Bennett and his team are the most dangerous combination still chasing the premiership - quite simply, he doesn't need it.

Winning the grand final is meaningless to Bennett personally. He's already been there and done that eight times. Once each in the BRL and Super League and six times in the NRL.

Another premiership won't change Wayne Bennett's life one iota. His reputation as the best coach in the game is guaranteed. Clubs willing to pay whatever it takes for him to sprinkle a little of his magic their way will be knocking on his door until the day he decides he's had enough.

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Which is not to say Bennett doesn't want to win. Of course he does, but not for himself. For his players.

The same can't be said for Robinson, or fellow semi-finalists Michael Maguire and Geoff Toovey.

They want to get their hands on the trophy and the lifetime title of "Premiership-winning coach" that comes with it so badly it hurts.

And that's what makes them vulnerable.

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Robinson will have spent every waking moment this week trying to second guess Bennett. Trying to figure out how to counter the master coach's master plan that may or may not even exist.

Bennett says he won't be making any changes to what the Knights have done the past few weeks, but Bennett always says that and then pulls a double-cross like the infamous Brian Smith doctored scouting sheet of 1993, getting Greg Dowling to bag the Queensland forwards in 1998, or flying Alfie back from England in 2001.

Then there's the way he always manages to take the heat off his team by turning it on to himself when needed.

Like his evasive answer to that media conference question about whether he'd be at Newcastle next year.

A few days out from the Knights' biggest game of the year and that was all anyone was talking about.

The real mystery was who actually asked the question. Maybe Greg Dowling had snuck in the back wearing a hat with a press card stuck in the band.

But the real pressure on Robinson, Maguire and Toovey is that all season they have been expected to win.

Bennett and the Knights were supposed to be making up the numbers.

Bennett doesn't have a Sonny Bill Williams, Greg Inglis or Jamie Lyon, just a collection of old-timers, discards and rejects.

So many of his players have long rap sheets that when they fly to games their plane should be called Con Air, not that it concerns Bennett.

"Some of them have a chequered past," he said.

"But the past is not something we dwell on. We worry about what they are doing now, and what their future is."

To which Trent Robinson could say without humour, "yeah, me too."  

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