As a revivalist in the traditional sense, Wayne Bennett’s side-of-the-mouth one-liners might not cut through the clapping and the cleansing of a southern US congregation.
It’d be a good watch though.
As a rugby league revivalist, only one-time protégé Craig Bellamy can rival him.
Arguably Bennett’s greatest strength as a coach – revitalising teams and careers when all conventional hope is lost – will come to the fore when the Dolphins host his former Rabbitohs outfit on Thursday.
Already Bennett has breathed life into the Dolphins, twice, when most had them on the endangered species list.
First, a shock 3-0 start to the club’s existence came despite all manner of wooden spoon predictions.
Offcuts and castaways led by Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Jamayne Isaako and Jeremy Marshall-King vied for early buy-of-the-year status when pay packets were taken into account, but a slew of injuries and losses to Brisbane and St George Illawarra seemed to settle the Dolphins in line with those predicting mid-table returns.
Until Bennett’s side, down to their third and last-choice five-eighth in Kodi Nikorima, and without veterans Jesse Bromwich and Felise Kaufusi, dusted the out-of-sorts Cowboys.
Isaako, unwanted at the Broncos and Titans, had a hat-trick inside 30 minutes.
With the greatest respect, the former Kiwi flyer showed little reason for his old clubs to invest in him – becoming a defensive target for rival teams as he averaged more than one mistake a game for three seasons.
Jamayne Isaako is feeling the love again under Wayne Bennett.Credit: Getty
Even when pre-season started, Isaako was well back in the first-grade queue. But a bond with Bennett that stretches back to Isaako’s high school days has since delivered him to the top of the NRL pile as leading pointscorer (72), and tryscorer alongside Tubai-Fidow with eight apiece.
“Jamayne wasn’t wanted at the Broncos, and he went to the [Titans] and they didn’t want him in the end either,” Bennett said after the Cowboys win.
“But I have always had great belief in him. I have coached him at the Broncos since he was a kid.
“He came to the Broncos because of me, he was playing schoolboys for Cronulla at the time, and it is magnificent to see him playing the way I know he can play.”
Marshall-King has already earned himself a new Dolphins deal.
Tabuai-Fidow, picked up from the Cowboys for a little less than $500,000 when he couldn’t crack a fullback spot, is one of the game’s most watched players and about to begin talks on an upgrade and extension.
Veteran Dolphins prop Mark Nicholls is another who was revitalised under Bennett’s watch when he lobbed at Redfern in 2019.
Nicholls, then 28, describes it as a “now or never season”. He had played 40 games in five seasons at that point.
Since simply being told “you are a first-grade footballer” by Bennett, Nicholls barely missed a game for the Rabbitohs. After joining the 73-year-old at Redcliffe, he captained the Dolphins last week in Bromwich’s absence.
Master and apprentice: Jason Demetriou with Wayne Bennett in 2020.Credit: Getty
Hame Sele was headed for the NRL scrapheap until a coffee with Bennett and a $4000 Rabbitohs train-and-trial deal a few years ago.
Jed Cartwright’s career is still kicking despite shoulder, back, groin and ankle issues requiring nine surgeries in the past five seasons – a three-year Rabbitohs deal offered by Bennett giving him genuine security and time to recover.
Jacob Host and Taane Milne have both flourished since arriving at Redfern on Bennett’s watch, significantly, at the behest of then-assistant coach Jason Demetriou.
Latrell Mitchell was given the cuddle so sorely needed after the daily news cycle that tracked his move across Anzac Parade. He and Bennett still chat cows whenever the old coach calls.
Fifty years after first stepping out as coach of a Queensland Police Academy side, conversions to the church of Bennett are as strong as ever.
