Wayne Bennett (rugby league footballer)

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**Wayne James Bennett**
Personal information

Full name	Wayne Bennett
Date of birth	January 1, 1950
Position	Coach
Club information
Current club	Brisbane Broncos
Professional clubs*
Years	Club	Apps (points)
	Warwick Toowoomba Brothers Ipswich Southern Suburbs
Representative teams
1971-1973 1971	Queensland Australia	7 (8) ?
Professional clubs coached
1976 1977-1979 1980-1982 1984-1985 1987 1988-present	Ipswich Southern Suburbs Brothers Southern Suburbs Canberra Brisbane
Representative teams coached
1986-1988 1998 1998 2001-2003 2004-2005	Queensland Queensland Australia Queensland Australia
* Professional club appearances and points counted for domestic first grade only.

Wayne James Bennett AM (born January 1, 1950) is an Australian rugby league football identity. A former Australian Kangaroos player, he is the current coach of the multiple premiership-winning Brisbane Broncos and a former coach of Queensland and Australia.

1 Early Life
2 Playing Career
3 Coaching Career
4 Quotations
5 External links

[edit] Early Life

Wayne Bennett grew up in a working class family in Warwick, Queensland with an alcoholic father who deserted the family when he was eleven years old, forcing Wayne to enter the workforce at an early age. Before becoming involved with Rugby League on a full-time basis, Bennett worked as a police officer. He remains an avowed non-smoker, non-drinker and non-gambler.

[edit] Playing Career

From 1970, Bennett played football for Warwick, Past Brothers (Brisbane), Ipswich and Souths Magpies (Brisbane). He was a talented winger who represented Queensland 7 times between 1971 and 1972, and played 2 tour matches for Australia on the 1971 tour of New Zealand.

[edit] Coaching Career

Wayne Bennett has been one of the most successful coaches in Australian Rugby League history and has experienced success with the last three teams he has coached.

[edit] Early years

Bennett began coaching in Ipswich in 1976, before moving to Brothers and Souths. He took Souths to the 1984 grand final, which they lost to the Wynnum-Manly Seagulls. Revenge was to come a year later when the Bennett-coached Magpies defeated the Seagulls 10-8 to take the premiership.

In 1987 Bennett was appointed co-coach of the Canberra Raiders, helping guide the side to the Grand Final which the team lost to Manly 18-8.

[edit] Brisbane Broncos

Bennett was appointed to be the first coach of the Brisbane Broncos when the club was formed in 1988 and, as of 2007, is still the only person to serve as first grade coach for the team. Under Bennett the Broncos have won 6 premierships; in 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2006. The six premierships won by Brisbane have made Wayne Bennett the most successful Grand Finals coach in history.

Bennett is set to continue coaching the Broncos until at least the end of 2009, at which time his contract is up for review. [1].

[edit] Representative

[edit] Queensland

In 1987 Bennett began a two-year stint as coach for the Queensland State of Origin team. Queensland won the series in both 1987 and 1988. Bennett would again coach Queensland in 1998, 2001, 2002 and 2003. He gained widespread attention as Queensland coach after his decision to recall Allan Langer to the Maroons from the English Super League for the deciding third game of the 2001 series. Queensland won the series and the decision was hailed as a master stroke. Bennett remains involved in coaching for Queensland through the Queensland Academy of Sport and in an off-field role with the Queensland Rugby League

[edit] Australia

National coaching honours first came in 1998 when Bennett was appointed to replace Bob Fulton as Kangaroos coach. Australia was undefeated in two test matches against the Kiwis. Bennett is a passionate advocate of international Rugby League, and was instrumental in the revival of the Tri-Nations series in 2004. In that year he was again appointed Australian coach, and took Australia to reclaim the Trans-Tasman Trophy (lost to New Zealand in 2003) and win the second Rugby League Tri-Nations Series. On 9 December 2005, it was announced that Bennett had resigned as Australia's coach, after the Kangaroos equalled their biggest loss in 98 years, going down 24-0 to New Zealand in the Tri-Nations final, the first time Australia had lost an international series for 32 years.

[edit] Coaching Awards

1997 Superleague Coach of the Year
2000 NRL Coach of the Year

On January 26 2004, Wayne was made a Member (AM) in the General Division award in the 2004 Australia Day Honours list. Bennett received his award for service to Rugby League football, particularly as a coach, and to the community. During the 2006 finals series, he became only the second person (after Tim Sheens) to coach 500 premiership games.

He is married to Trish Bennett and won a Queensland Father of the Year award for helping to raise two of his children with disabilities. He appeared on Australian Story on ABC TV to tell the story about his family life which was one of the most popular programs in the history of that show. With journalist Steve Crawley he wrote Don't Die with the Music in You which has become one of the best selling books about rugby league in Australia's history (ISBN 0-7333-1107-5, ABC Books Australia).

[edit] Quotations

If you want to be mentally tough, do as Wayne Bennett says: follow your beliefs and don't give in to yourself. — Steve Waugh

I believe that Bennett stands somewhere below Jack Gibson, which is somewhere just above God. — Roy Masters

Wayne is a man whose success is built on loyalty, discipline and an innate recognition of individual worth. — Lachlan Murdoch

Will I miss him? I miss coaching against them all. I will say that it is a shame that Wayne won't be there. With all due respect to Michael Hagan, Wayne Bennett and Queensland go hand in hand. I enjoy coaching against quality coaches, and Wayne Bennett is that. I have really enjoyed coaching against Wayne for the last two years. — Phil Gould

I don’t know how he does it. He’s like a father to all the players and anyone’s got problems on or off the field he’ll fix them if he can. But he’s not only a father figure I think I class him as one of my best friends. — Allan Langer

[edit] External links

Preceded by Don Furner 1982-1986	Co-Coach (with Don Furner) Canberra Raiders 1987	Succeeded by Tim Sheens 1988-1996
Preceded by team created	Coach Brisbane Broncos 1988-present	Succeeded by incumbent

Preceded by Des Morris 1985	Coach Queensland State of Origin 1986-1988	Succeeded by Arthur Beetson 1989-1990
Preceded by Paul Vautin 1995-1997	Coach Queensland State of Origin 1998	Succeeded by Mark Murray 1999-2000
Preceded by Mark Murray 1999-2000	Coach Queensland State of Origin 2001-2003	Succeeded by Michael Hagan 2004-2005
Preceded by competition created	Coach Queensland Tri-Series (Super League) 1997	Succeeded by competition abolished

Preceded by Bob Fulton 1989-1998	Coach Australia 1998	Succeeded by Chris Anderson 1999-2003
Preceded by Chris Anderson 1999-2003	Coach Australia 2004-2005	Succeeded by Ricky Stuart 2006

Brisbane Broncos
The Club Representatives \| History \| Records \| Honours \| Players \| Venues
Seasons 1988 \| 1989 \| 1990 \| 1991 \| 1992 \| 1993 \| 1994 \| 1995 \| 1996 \| 1997 1998 \| 1999 \| 2000 \| 2001 \| 2002 \| 2003 \| 2004 \| 2005 \| 2006 \| 2007
Stadiums Lang Park/Suncorp Stadium \| ANZ Stadium
Captains Wally Lewis (1988-1989) \| Gene Miles (1990-1991) \| Allan Langer (1992-1999) Kevin Walters (1999-2000) \| Gorden Tallis (2001-2004) \| Darren Lockyer (2005-present)
Coaches Wayne Bennett (1988-present)

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