Lockyer allays fears over Bennett poaching raid
Darren Lockyer believes Wayne Bennett will buck his trend of taking talent with him when he leaves an NRL club.
The 74-year-old will exit the Dolphins at season’s end and is short odds to become the head coach of South Sydney from next year.
The worry for the money men at Redcliffe will be a potential exodus of players as a result.
Bennett builds rapport with his players like no other coach, and he has a history of taking some with him from club to club.
The most famous case was superstar fullback Darius Boyd, who played under Bennett at the Broncos, then Dragons, then Knights, and then followed him back to Brisbane. Boyd often said Bennett was a father figure for him.
Wayne Bennett, head coach of the Dolphins.
Bennett also took the likes of Jeremy Smith, Beau Scott and Neville Costigan from club to club, and more recently lured Kodi Nikorima and Mark Nicholls from South Sydney to Redcliffe when the Dolphins entered the NRL last year.
But Lockyer says Bennett is unlikely to lure the best Dolphins away when he jumps ship this time.
“I feel like he’s got a respect for them that he wants them to keep growing as an organisation, as a club,” Lockyer told Wide World of Sports’ QLDER.
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“It would be different if they had won a couple of grand finals by now, he might have tried to pick a couple off.
“I genuinely think he knows they are a club that’s just starting their journey, he was a part of it at the start.
“But I don’t think he would want to sink the boot in at any point.”
Bennett has reportedly been offered a three-year contract by the Bunnies, which would expire at the end of the 2027 season.
Most of the best Dolphins talent is already locked away for several years to come. Isaiya Katoa (2028), Tom Flegler (2027), Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow (2027), and Herbie Farnworth (2026) won’t be on the market for a while yet.
Nikorima, though, is off contract this year. Recent reports claimed the Dolphins had tabled a two-year extension for the playmaker.
The other concern for Dolphins powerbrokers once Bennett leaves is the worrying history of coaches who have followed in his footsteps.
The Broncos, Dragons, Knights, and Rabbitohs have all seen coaches sacked in the years immediately after Bennett’s departure.
Lockyer has some advice for Dolphins coach-in-waiting Kristian Woolf.
Wayne Bennett lays down the law to Dolphins players at a training session.
“I think the biggest thing a coach should do under Wayne is watch how he man manages,” he said.
“You have an environment where he’s managing the people, managing the players to play for each other, the coach and the club.
“If you lose that man management aspect then it starts to become very difficult to keep everyone aligned with where you’re going.
“I think that’s the biggest thing, particularly at Souths, managing someone like Latrell Mitchell or Cody Walker. Wayne does it better than anyone.
“If you’re watching him, if you want to study him, it’s not about tactics it’s about how to manage people.
“He finds the individual and then tailors his approach based on that individual and their personality. It’s not an easy thing to do.”
The Dolphins have won five of eight games this season and sit fourth on the NRL ladder.
They next face Manly on Thursday night.