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Message: [QUOTE="Gaz, post: 2979955, member: 9463"] [SIZE=6][B]Why Wayne Bennett is wrong fit for battling Wests Tigers[/B][/SIZE] Wayne Bennett has spent the last 30 years telling his players to back themselves. Now he should do the same. Penrith’s stunning acquisition of Ivan Cleary, initially from 2021 but perhaps next year, has opened the door for Wests Tigers to launch a bid to entice Bennett south as soon as next season. The electric crackle of controversial contract deals and the romance of Cleary senior and junior being united have masked one simple fact — Wests Tigers are not the club for Bennett. Not next year or never. Bennett turns 69 in January and, like an old master builder, is up for some deft tinkering. But the days of full blown, top-to-bottom renovations are gone. Fit as he is, that is a job for younger men who can work around the clock, which is why Bennett should stay at the Broncos for one last year and back himself to get a better job on the strength of it. Bennett might just be the man who can sneak into the Dragons or the Rabbitohs — if Anthony Seibold heads to Brisbane — and provide the spit and polish that lifts them from good to great. But the Tigers are just too hard. As Tigers legend Benny Elias said, they are a laughing stock. None of the seven coaches who have led them have managed a 50 per cent winning record even though Tim Sheens won a premiership. They haven’t made the finals for eight years. When Kevin Walters was mulling over applying for the Titans a job friend said to him, “people say you will be a hero even if you get them into seventh or eighth spot but you have won a fistful of premierships — seventh spot might satisfy them but it won’t float your boat after all you have done.’’ You could say the same of Bennett. A seventh-placed finish next year would be a substantial pass mark for the club but for Bennett it would be about as stimulating as a cucumber sandwich. Bennett is essentially playing a game of chicken — with himself. His great fear is not going to a weak club but having no club at all. But if he backs himself with a young and extremely promising Broncos side next year the rewards could be much greater. Don’t worry about the timeline, his age or how many spots are open. The offers will come. The soon-to-be clinched unification of the Clearys is an interesting affair. Between them father and son are likely to bag about $7m in contract fees with Nathan signing a five-year deal and his father set for three or more. It sounds great in theory but the pressure will be incredible and they will have to negotiate it as a family. Great challenges await. Source: The Australian [/QUOTE]

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