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WAYNE Bennett now has the worst record of any Newcastle coach. Ever.
Bet you never saw that coming? Unthinkable only 12 months ago, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal how Bennett — an ageing sage with seven premierships, five Origin series, even a shock world title with New Zealand — is, statistically, the least successful coach in 27 years of Knights football.
Worse, it's a result costing $3 million to facilitate.
Knights coach Wayne Bennett addresses his side at training. Source: News Corp Australia
"That surprises me, obviously,'' Knights CEO Matt Gidley said last night. "But you know, as we all do, there are circumstances surrounding this situation.
"And the way Wayne has stabilised this club throughout an extremely turbulent period, the care he's shown ... it's been remarkable."
So exactly what does one make of this rare Bennett blemish? With his future in the Hunter unknown, and his team languishing in last place, it is hardly the position expected of a man who arrived on the cusp of winning premierships at three separate NRL clubs.
Certainly it doesn't take Mr Peabody to understand Newcastle were always going to struggle following, first, the tragedy surrounding forward Alex McKinnon; then, second, the saga that is departing owner Nathan 'IOU' Tinkler.
NRL TAKES CONTROL OF THE KNIGHTS
The NRL has took control of the Knights after Nathan Tinkler moved on from the club. Source: News Corp Australia
Throw in the jailing of prop Russell Packer and you've got the NRL equivalent of a Bermuda Triangle.
Yet through it all, insiders will whisper, Bennett has held strong.
Such a rock for players, staffers, even the McKinnon family, Knights great Paul Harragon wondered aloud recently if, maybe, the coach was here purely because no one else could keep the joint together.
Indeed, if ever you needed proof of what sets Bennett apart from the pack — why a bloke like Darius Boyd would follow Bennett into Hades or, worse, a media scrum —
re-read that moving column he wrote for McKinnon on these pages back in March.
Marvelling at how this grandfather, who has moulded hundreds, if not thousands, of young lives, can still talk so emotionally, so intimately, about one.
Tough times ... Newcastle Knight's coach Wayne Bennett at training. Source: News Corp Australia
But this is rugby league. A code where sentiment carries less weight than even Bennett during his days as a winger in Brisbane.
And, right now, the Knights are stumbling through their second worst start to a season ever — with only 2005, when they opened with 13 straight losses, uglier than their current 2-11 record.
In attack, Newcastle average fewer tries and points per game than all but Cronulla. In defence, they have missed the second most tackles with 31. All up, giving Bennett a success rate of 40.6 per cent.
And this number, you should know, is worse than Allan McMahon (40.7). Worse than David Waite (44.7). Worse even than Brian Smith, who had fans burning his effigy — or something like that — until he departed with a strike rate of 45.6 per cent. And so, we ask: Are the problems that have befallen Newcastle responsible for Bennett's coaching blemish, or simply masking it?
Winning percentage of former Newcastle coaches. Source: Supplied
Certainly, you can still see the super coach's fingerprints on this mob.
For a start, Newcastle are making the second least errors — with 10.6 per game. Elsewhere, they own the third best completion rate, have breathed life into Willie Mason and, only last winter, went within one game of a shock grand final appearance.
"Ask people around here,'' Gidley said, "and the thing they'll remember most about Wayne during all this turbulence is how he's
cared."
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