When the AFL introduced its newest franchises into the competition, it gave the Gold Coast Suns and GWS Giants a set of numbers you could have sworn were straight from the Lotto draw.
1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 13.
And for those wondering, the supplementaries were 15 and 26.
Sadly, it wasn’t the type of prophecy to make someone an instant millionaire – but just the national draft picks they had gift-wrapped for the competition’s two clubs. And that was before salary cap concessions, increased list sizes, recruitment zone picks and other sweeteners.
More than a decade on, has it worked?
Well, if one grand final appearance from the Giants is a measure of success, then yes. But otherwise, we’ll take the Suns never finishing higher than 12th as a resounding no.
Wayne Bennett speaks to media with NRL chief Andrew Abdo.Credit:Getty
On Thursday night, less than a week after the NRL grand final, rugby league’s biggest powerbrokers should have shuddered when news broke Cameron Munster was spurning the newest franchise, the Dolphins, to stay at Melbourne for 2024 and beyond for less money.
Of all the targets the Dolphins have lined up – Harry Grant, Brandon Smith, Tino Fa’asuamaleaui, Kalyn Ponga, Ryan Matterson – the one they always seemed to destined to get was Munster.
Until they didn’t.
It’s a bit more than four months until Brisbane’s second team plays their first game under coach Wayne Bennett, and at this rate the supercoach’s greatest achievement will be to have them anywhere near the top eight in their first two years, let alone in it.
As diligently as he and the rest of the Dolphins staff work in assembling a competitive roster, the Munster blow hit like a sledgehammer. If not him, then who?
Asked about the Munster miss, Bennett told Triple M Brisbane on Friday: “I understand about managers and all that – there is a need for them – but what I can’t get, and what I don’t relate to and I struggle with is the fact that the players, for all the tough conversations that have got to be had, are missing.
“They don’t ring you up and tell you they’re not coming. They don’t make that phone call. That’s a tough phone call, it’s a phone call none of us want to make. But if you want to be a man, then you’ve got to behave like one.”
The NRL, itself, can’t be blameless.
Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett.Credit:Getty
Unlike the Titans who were given a long runway to sign players before entering the competition in 2007, the Dolphins officially had three weeks before diving into a transfer system the NRL has for so long neglected to fix.
It doesn’t matter that they were the street corner tip for a few months beforehand to win the NRL’s 17th licence, it was never going to be enough time for them to make a genuine splash. And now they’re likely to pay for it.
Bennett has pointed to the transient nature of the NRL player market, and he’s right to an extent.
Players fall out with coaches and general managers want to wash their hands of players. Some, through no fault of their own, fall down the pecking order at their club and seek opportunities elsewhere. Family circumstances change. It’s a moving feast. They can still improve.
But what is indisputable is most of the important business is now done in November and December, and the Dolphins weren’t given time to adequately prepare for a seat at the NRL’s top table.
What Bennett and recruitment guru Peter O’Sullivan have promised is to build a franchise for the future. That involves a large emphasis on pathways and the best young talent across the league. It has angered the Panthers, whose own football factory has been the subject of the biggest poaching raids (although even SG Ball prodigy Harry Hassett has backed out of a Dolphins switch and will stay at Penrith).
The build-from-the-ground-up philosophy is sensible. But how long will it take to make it work at NRL level? And are fans and corporates willing to be patient enough to see it through?
The Titans’ foundation coach, John Cartwright, gave a little glimpse into the future of the Dolphins when he spoke last year about what it was like playing real-life fantasy football with Gold Coast all that time ago.
“And whilst it was exciting [building a new squad], and we found a lot of people were very keen, when push comes to shove you’ve got player managers that are pushing the bottom line,” he said.
“It’s not about, ‘it’s a brand-new franchise, this is exciting, we’re going to come here and play for less’.”
But it’s not even about money now. It, alone, is not enough to land the marquee the Dolphins so desperately crave.
So is it time for the NRL to step in and help?
If only Bennett could find those magic Lotto numbers…
Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.
