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Benji should first ask himself how this current administration and board could possibly make a promise like that given their proven history of throwing coaches under the bus.
And what Benji should also remind himself is learning the art of coaching takes time and experience, both good and bad.
Wayne Bennett coached for a decade in the old Brisbane competition before taking over as co-coach at Canberra in 1987.
Craig Bellamy did stints at Canberra and Brisbane before taking over Melbourne.
Trent Robinson worked at the Knights and Roosters under Brian Smith before coaching Catalans in the Super League and then returning to the Roosters.
Craig Fitzgibbon was head hunted by Cronulla after years as an assistant at the Roosters, and also playing a key role on the NSW Blues coaching staff. The Cowboys went after Todd Payten who previously worked at the Tigers, North Queensland and the Warriors. Benji should first ask himself how this current administration and board could possibly make a promise like that given their proven history of throwing coaches under the bus.
And what Benji should also remind himself is learning the art of coaching takes time and experience, both good and bad.
Wayne Bennett coached for a decade in the old Brisbane competition before taking over as co-coach at Canberra in 1987. Craig Bellamy did stints at Canberra and Brisbane before taking over Melbourne.
Trent Robinson worked at the Knights and Roosters under Brian Smith before coaching Catalans in the Super League and then returning to the Roosters.
Craig Fitzgibbon was head hunted by Cronulla after years as an assistant at the Roosters, and also playing a key role on the NSW Blues coaching staff. The Cowboys went after Todd Payten who previously worked at the Tigers, North Queensland and the Warriors. Jason Demetriou cut his teeth in Queensland and England, before taking on roles at St George Illawarra and Brisbane, then following Wayne Bennett to Souths for three more years with the specific intention of taking over. Meanwhile, Bennett has now identified the highly-rated Kristian Woolf to be his assistant at the Dolphins where the current St Helens coach, who previously worked at the Cowboys and Knights while also coaching Tonga, will eventually take over.
If Sheens is going to take on the job at least make sure he has the right coaching team around him so they don’t throw the club into another decade of turmoil.
This has to go beyond being a PR stunt by throwing up the most popular choice.
By all means make Benji part of Sheens’ so-called ‘Dream Team’ going forward. But the Tigers should not be making promises to Benji history shows they just can’t keep.
NO MORE RULE CHANGES, PLEASE
If the NRL goes ahead with this shock plan to introduce another new rule next year to stop teams intentionally giving away set restarts in the dying stages of games it will be a disaster. The idea is if you are in possession at the end of any game you will be allowed to play out the full set even if it goes past the 80-minute mark. It comes on the back of the diabolical mess in the recent Dragons-Raiders game where Ben Hunt was allowed to blatantly get away with three infringements in the same tackle without being penalised or sin binned.
What the NRL needs to understand is that the current rules aren’t the problem. The issue is enforcing them.
Blow the whistle and problem solved. We don’t need to turn rugby league into rugby union.
WHY BIG BILLY’S THE WORLD’S BEST
He’s Bulldogs bound next year, but big Viliame Kikau is obviously planning to go out with a bang at Penrith.
And the way he has helped hold fort at the foot of the mountains during this year’s State of Origin period also speaks volumes for his commitment.
The depleted Panthers take on Wests Tigers on Sunday hoping to close out the Origin period without a club loss, despite having seven key players involved in the NSW team not named for this match.
In what has obviously been a challenging period for everyone at the club, the likes of Kikau, Dylan Edwards and James Fisher-Harris have really stepped up.
At 27, Kikau is clearly having the best season of his career, playing all 16 games and more often than not the full 80 minutes, with seven tries and eight try assists, while averaging 82m.
Coming on the back of last year’s premiership, and the fact he’s signed for next year with the Bulldogs, it would have been easy for Kikau to take things for granted this year. Instead, he’s taken his individual efforts to another level.
In fact, if you were picking a world team right now the rampaging Panther would be the first edge backrower selected.
