“I was never afraid of getting fired, because if I was afraid of that, I couldn’t be my own man.”

Wayne Bennett is the most successful manager in rugby league history. A man of very few words, he is revered by his players, while keeping a safe distance from the many journalists who have tried in vain to approach him.

“You are not remembered for your words, but you are remembered for your actions,” he says.

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Bennett always avoided the limelight and gave the media the shortest time he is allowed. I only had the pleasure of interviewing him at length once, when he arrived in the UK to start his new role as England head coach in 2016. Filling the ten-minute slot allotted took a long time given the icy nature of the opening exchanges. , and much of the rest was spent explaining how he’d rather talk to the animals on his Queensland farm than reporters like me, because they listen intently and don’t respond.

For Bennett, giving up an hour this week to discuss what drives him was therefore compelling, and also underscored the strength of his bond with the players he has coached – in this case his former captain, a retired England skipper. turned podcast host James Graham.

“I always coach for the present, but I also have the long term in mind,” he says when asked to break down his incredible success. “Too often I see coaches fail not because they can’t coach, but because they don’t have that vision.”

The 72-year-old is enjoying a very rare sabbatical – the first break he’s had since 1983 – before taking charge of new NRL expansion club The Dolphins next year. His extraordinary career has so far yielded seven out of ten Grand Final victories, six Minor Premierships and three Coach of the Year awards, in addition to representative honors with Australia, Queensland, Great Britain and England. ‘England.

Bennett spent his free time recruiting for the Dolphins’ inaugural season while feeding cattle and tending to horses on his farm where he will eventually retire.

“The moment comes and goes very quickly, so the long-term view is key,” Bennett says of what makes a coach successful.

“Have patience. A coach who listens to that will say ‘well, that’s fine with him’. No, that’s not fine with me, I had the same philosophy when I started coaching.

“I was never afraid of being fired. I probably scared a few people off because of that attitude, I used to annoy my mom because of it. She told me many times that I was so determined, but that’s okay.

“The main thing is that this is a job that you can’t listen to too often, you have to follow your intuition. And you’re the only one who feels that. You have to have that conviction and that confidence. If you’re wrong, you you will pay the price with your work, but it will be your price and you will be satisfied with it.

Beneath the cold, hard exterior hides a man who never took himself too seriously. And that’s why his players love him. Every England player who played under Bennett in his four years as national coach will describe how he made them feel the desire to bleed for the shirt because he believed in them and would support them until the end. As long as a few very simple rules have been followed.

“I’m happy to give the players love,” he said. “It’s not complex. If they don’t like it, they can go somewhere else. I keep it pretty simple, but values ​​are values ​​and will never change.

” Do not be late. And if I don’t talk to you, it’s either because you’re out of the game or because you’re playing perfectly. And I’ve never seen a perfect player.

“I want you to be men. If I treat you like boys, that’s how you’ll behave. I gave it to you. If I have curfews and rules it will be human nature to break them, and if I minimize the rules the players respect how they are treated and don’t want to let the team down.

“They’re simple things but they work because it makes you feel like you’re part of something.

“I’m not interested in your words. I just watch what you do. How you carry yourself, how you conduct yourself, how you play.

This approach saw Bennett lead England to a rare World Cup final in 2017, closer to the Holy Grail than many think, the team are now ahead of the delayed 2021 competition that England host this fall. Bennett’s contract was not renewed in 2020, with Shaun Wane taking over. There was no thinking about what might have been, no dressing of wounds. Bennett knows the cut and thrust of elite management as well as anyone. But how many actually know him?

Intrepid but shy, strong-willed but thrifty in words. Who is Wayne Bennett?

“I’m an introvert, extremely,” he says. Yet there are also quirks in his character. Bennett won’t sit in the quiet corner of the coach in the front of the team bus, he feels an important desire to be at the heart of the team, whether it goes against his own nature or not.

“For me, standing in the back of the bus is quite difficult. I’m glad to be around. But I also like to have fun and talk about rascals having fun. The front of the bus is all the bores, all the management, all the players who are closer to God than you and me.

“And they fucked me up! You go down in the back and all the idiots are there, all the people you don’t want to be but like to be around.

Bennett’s secret to coaching success is action and confidence rather than words and rules. And the key to that, he believes, is embracing chaos.

“I always look for idiots, I love them, that’s where the fun is.”

*18+ | BeGambleAware

Photos courtesy of swpix.com