Wayne Bennett, regarded as the game’s best coach has said that he didn’t promise the Dragons a premiership, and he has also said that should the Dragons win the grand final, it doesn’t mean that the team has turned around.
Should Dragons fans win the grand final on Sunday, a sea of Saints fans will deem Bennett as a true saint as they chase premiership glory for the first time in 31 years.
The games best coach, who led a star-studded Broncos sides to 6 premierships, made his acquaintances quickly and turned a bunch of discards, juniors and experienced veterans yet to experience premiership glory, into one of the competition’s best teams in just a short period of time.
Bennett initially promised to ensure that he would make the Dragons a top side, but he didn’t say that he was going to promise a premiership.
“Believe me, I’m not that stupid,” Bennett told AAP.
“They asked for none and I gave none.
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“All I said when I arrived here was I’d do all I can to make them a consistent football team and our record shows we are.”
Long waits don’t always equate to pressure being placed on the Dragons, and given that the Dragons have won the last two minor premierships, they’ve shown that they can match it with all the other teams to finish on top at the end of the season.
“I knew through consistency would come that success that everybody and fans want for their club, it doesn’t happen the other way,” he said.
“You don’t come in with a magic wand and come up with a lot of hair-brain ideas to make everyone feel good. They might work good for two or three months.”
“I said when I came here I wouldn’t leave until the job was done and that didn’t necessarily mean for me or the team to win a grand final,” he said.
“My goal was to give the administrators and the board and fans a club they could be proud of.
“I said when I came here I wouldn’t leave until the job was done and that didn’t necessarily mean for me or the team to win a grand final,” he said.
“My goal was to give the administrators and the board and fans a club they could be proud of.
One of the greatest criticisms that the Dragons have been forced to put up with on countless occasions this year, is that their inconsistency would let them down, and that you never knew which Dragons side would show up.
The Dragons have obviously put such murmurs to bed.
“We’re on that road now, we’ve done it two years in a row.”
Bennett won’t divulge as to whether he intends to remain at the club beyond this season, but he has said that his family have been given him a deluge of support during his time at Wollongong, and that he’ll approach them before he makes any other decisions.
“I’m away for 10 months but it’s worked because I have a wife who is totally unselfish and is happy to see I am doing what I want to do (rather) than having me at home being grumpy and cranky,” he said.
“My coaching career is coming to an end, it’s a matter of when, two, three, five years, I don’t know.
“It’s not another 20 years in front of us and she accepts that.
“I do get home at times and I keep myself pretty busy, that’s the key.
“The worst days are when you sit around and do nothing, they’re the toughest days.”