Curtain closing on Wayne Bennett era as Saints come marching home End of line for Broncos
BATTERED Brisbane’s season is over … and it is almost certainly over and out for Wayne Bennett.
Brisbane super coach Bennett is a dead- man walking after the Dragons last night conjured a stunning finals boilover to send the Broncos crashing out of the title race with a 48- 18 belting at Suncorp Stadium.
Before a shell- shocked crowd of 47,296, former Brisbane halfback Ben Hunt exacted the ultimate revenge, helping the Dragons engineer a ruthless seven- try rout of Bennett’s Broncos.
Dragons back- rower Tariq Sims, a junior Bronco, hammered Brisbane’s pack, posting a first- half hat- trick running like Superman to deliver the bullet to the career of Broncos 304- game warhorse Sam Thaiday.
The resurgent Dragons march on to face South Sydney in a sudden- death semi- final this Saturday night, while the Broncos’ painful premiership drought extends to 12 fruitless seasons.
Now the knives will sharpened for Bennett.
The Broncos board will meet in the coming weeks to decide his fate and the 68year- old knew in his heart he be needed a premiership fairytale this year to secure a 12- month extension for 2020.
But Brisbane’s woeful finals capitulation will give the Broncos board sufficient evidence to inform Bennett he will not be coaching at Red Hill beyond next year.
It was an inspired display by the Dragons, who overturned a 10- 2 deficit to charge to a 28- 10 halftime lead before finishing the Broncos off after the break.
St George Illawarra’s $ 6 million man Hunt entered the clash under siege, but he was near flawless, outpointing former halves partner Anthony Milford to answer the critics in his Suncorp cakewalk.
It was almost 25 years ago that Broncos halfback great Allan Langer famously declared “Saints can’t play” before the 1993 grand final.
With the spluttering Dragons limping into the finals, Alfie’s sentiment could have easily swirled around Suncorp yesterday.
There was just one problem. Someone forgot to hand the script to St George Illawarra.
Amid the scathing critiques of the Dragons, what had been missed was the reality that Brisbane entered the playoffs with the worst defensive record of the top- eight teams.
Having leaked a whopping 500 points in the regular sea- son, Brisbane’s defensive fragility was laid bare in a horrendous first 40 minutes as Dragons back- rowers Sims and Tyson Frizell ran riot.
Playing like an indestructible Red V robot, Sims was the poster boy for the Dragons as he crashed over in the 20th, 33rd and 38th minutes to post a rampaging hat- trick.
The Broncos refused to surrender, with skipper Darius Boyd slicing through out wide, then Nikorima darted his way through in the 56th minute.
But the Dragons scored two late tries and in the process, drove the dagger into Wayne Bennett, the only premiership coach Brisbane know.