Benny tackles ARL boss
TWO of rugby league’s most powerful figures are at loggerheads, with Wayne Bennett lashing ARL Commission chairman John Grant over moves to appoint a full-time Australian coach.
Grant gave the strongest indication yet the national setup is facing a shake-up, revealing yesterday his desire to see Australia’s next coach hired on a full-time basis.
While Grant pointed out it was only his personal view, the eight-person ARL Commission is sure to be heavily influenced by the sentiments of their chairman.
Bennett is vying for the Kangaroos post with Maroons coach Mal Meninga, but the Broncos mentor hit out at Grant’s belief Australia requires a full-time successor to Tim Sheens.
“I disagree with John Grant’s comment the Australian team needs a full-time coach,” Bennett said. “I can assure John, and anyone else who wants to listen, a full-time Australian coach is not required.
“I coached the national team in 2004-05 and the commitments then were no greater than what they are in 2016 and going forward. If I thought it needed a full-time candidate, I wouldn’t have nominated myself for the job.
“The commission saw fit in recent times to deny Tim Sheens the chance to be fulltime. He asked on a number of occasions and the commission said there wasn’t enough work for him and nothing has changed in that regard.
“When we had Kangaroo tours 20 and 30 years ago, the national team played a lot more games and had a lot more commitments than they have now.”
Grant also suggested yesterday that Meninga was favourite for the Test job.
The ARLC chairman added: “I want a national coach who’s fully connected to the grassroots and in charge of coaching development across the entire game.
“This person (the next Aus- tralian coach) would work with the two Origin coaches.”
But Bennett believes under the code’s current structures, there is no need for the Kangaroos coach to preside over development pathways and grassroots initiatives.
“There is already a large organisation run by the NRL under Andrew Hill which runs game strategy and development,” Bennett said.
“The pathways are covered by the Queensland and NSW rugby leagues. We have programs already in place, the na- tional coach wouldn’t need to do that. Are we going to duplicate what we already do?
“If Mal Meninga gets the job, does anyone in their right mind think that Mal will be able to work with Laurie Daley (NSW coach)? Can you imagine Mal walking into a NSW training session ... he will be the welcome face at the Blues won’t he? It’s laughable.
“Australia plays four or five Tests a year, there’s not enough work to justify spending $1 million or whatever it is on a full-time coach.”