NRL News: Bennett takes stunning whack at Bunker, refs, send-off rule, Flanagan 'extremely proud' of Dad's milestone
Mastermind coach Wayne Bennett has blown up at the NRL bunker and standard of officiating, calling for change to revamp the spectacle and quality of the game.
Bennett, who has coached over 900 NRL games and seven premierships, believes referees must award a clean slate for all teams, saying consistency is flawed.
“If I was a punter I couldn’t bet a penny on rugby league at the moment,” Bennett told Fox Sports.
Returning to the Rabbitohs in 2024, Bennett says too many games are being brought down by shocking calls and controversial punishments towards foul play.
“Do I need the grief this will cause? No, I don’t,” Bennett said.
“But I have to stand up for the players and the game I have spent my whole life being a part of and loving. We can’t hide and pretend it is not a problem because it is a problem.
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“And it is causing massive frustration, not just with the players and coaches, but the fans.
“People always go on about consistency. I know how hard consistency is. What I want is fairness for every team.
“I want to know we are all getting a fair shake out there.”
Bennett took particular umbrage at inconsistency in determining penalties for high contact from game to game, saying the NRL is putting ‘band aids on situations rather than make the hard decision’.
“Every game it seems has different rule interpretations for illegal high contact,” he said.
“One game you see a player sin binned for a high shot that wouldn’t bruise a grape. Then the following game someone gets clocked good and proper and it doesn’t so much as warrant a penalty.
“I have had four players in the last two weeks hit with contact to the head by the opposition illegally. Not one penalty in those four times.
“But I have had two of these players taken out of the game on the advice of the independent doctor, who believed that they were concussed and so they were out of the game for 15 minutes.
“So the doctor, who is the expert, believed they were concussed. Yet the referee accused one of the players [Herbie Farnworth] that he was milking it.
“Who is the expert here? The referee, the guy in the Bunker, or the doctor?”
Bennett has a track record for giving very little away in post-match press conferences, but the Dolphins coach vented further in taking issue with the sin-bin and send-off rules, saying the game needs to ‘keep it simple’.
In particular, he believes sending a player off for particularly egregious incidents leaves one team at an impossible disadvantage for the rest of the game – as it was for NSW in Game 1 of the State of Origin series when Joseph Suaalii was marched for knocking out Reece Walsh – with the punishment far greater than the crime.
“If you go back to the send-off in the first State of Origin, this is what the game has to look at,” Bennett said.
“We have no comeback when it leaves one team with 12 men and the game is done.
“The send-off was created in 1908. There were T Model Fords in 1908. We still have cars today. But, geez, the cars have changed enormously. Yet we still have the same send-off.
“We are asking fans to pay $300 to go to a State of Origin game. If I am paying $300 and I am going to take my family and it costs well over $1000, and I know the game is over in seven minutes, we have got to be better than that.
Wayne Bennett will return to the Rabbitohs in 2024. (Photo by Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images)
“It is a discussion we need to have… the AFL have never sent a player off in their history. They have had tough men. They have great players. They have all survived with no sent off players.
“Am I saying we do that, not necessarily. But we have to look at what we can do. And don’t use the excuse [that] they will just be taking out the best players.”
Kyle Flanagan backs father Shane ahead of milestone
Shane Flanagan has learned to appreciate the smaller things in life during his second ride on the NRL coaching roller-coaster.
At least, that’s according to his son Kyle.
Flanagan senior will chalk up 200 NRL games as a coach on Sunday, as his St George Illawarra side take on the Dolphins at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium.
He will become the 35th coach to reach the mark.
Being the son of an NRL coach is essentially all Kyle Flanagan has known.
He was still living at home when Shane guided Cronulla to the premiership in 2016, saw his dad de-registered as a coach in 2018 and then joined him when Flanagan senior returned to take charge at the Dragons this year.
The 25-year-old remains “extremely proud” of his father, who has guided St George Illawarra to ninth spot on the NRL ladder on his return to the elite.
“To be back in a head coach role … that’s what he loves doing,” Kyle said.
“Having a few grandkids … he’s just enjoying life and the smaller moments a lot more (as well now).”
The coach’s fingerprints are now clearly being seen at the Dragons, who face a crucial six weeks with matches against the Dolphins, Sydney Roosters, Brisbane, Penrith, Melbourne and Canterbury set to define their season.
The club are hoping to end the longest finals drought in their history, having not made the top eight since 2018.
Flanagan last week landed his biggest fish since returning to the Dragons, with South Sydney hooker Damien Cook to join the club on a two-year deal next year.
Whatever the outcome of the 2024 season, Kyle Flanagan is happy to have his dad back coaching.
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“He just treats me like I’m any other player, and he says it how it is,” Kyle, who made his Dragons’ debut in the season-opening 28-4 win over Gold Coast, said.
“He’s put a lot of trust and confidence into me, which is something that I struggled with over the last couple of years.”
It’s the second time he has played under his father, having made his debut at Cronulla during Flanagan senior’s reign at the club in 2018.