Benny nearly flips out

Dolphins super coach threatens to ditch press conference

Wayne Bennett threatened to walk out of his pre-game press conference after being asked about his 900-game coaching milestone.

Bennett, 73, will coach what is regarded as his 900th premiership match when the Dolphins face Cronulla at Suncorp Stadium on Saturday night.

But the seven-time premiership winner was in no mood to talk about the milestone at Redcliffe on Friday morning, in an otherwise comedic press conference.

“We either change the subject or I just move on,” Bennett said. “I’m not talking about my achievements, what I’ve done and haven’t done.

“You’ve written about them, had an opinion on them. We’ve all had enough of it.”

When pressed on his coaching career, Bennett gave a final warning.

“Oh, we’re talking about me again?” he said. “I’ll be clear then. If you want to talk about the team and players, that’s fine. But if you want to talk about me I’ll just have to leave the conference.”

Bennett’s 900-game career started with the Canberra Raiders in 1987 (28 games) and has included stints with the Brisbane Broncos (631 matches 1988-2008 and 2015-2018), St George Illawarra (79 matches 2009-2011), Newcastle Knights (75 matches 2012-2014) and South Sydney Rabbitohs (77 matches 2019-2021).

He will coach the Dolphins for the 10th time at Magic Round and his record stands at 562 wins, 323 losses and 14 draws, for a winning percentage of 62.5.

But Bennett said he was well beyond 1000 games if his Brisbane Rugby League coaching career was recognised, which included eight seasons with Brothers and Souths before he moved to the NSWRL.

“If you put all those in I’m well over 900,” he said.

“I coached at least 180 in Brisbane before I went to the NRL. I don’t see why they shouldn’t (count), but unless you’re in the NRL life doesn’t really exist outside of it. There is a lot of existence outside it and a lot of great players that did great things in those competitions prior to the NRL.”

He spoke briefly about his near 50-year coaching career. “I never thought about being a coach,” he said. “It’s not something I wanted to do and I’m still not sure if I want to be a coach. I found myself doing it and I’m still doing it today.”

Dolphins captain Jesse Bromwich will miss the match with a minor hamstring injury.