I understand where you're coming from, but finishing 7th is nothing in this competition. It doesn't attract players to the club, nor sponsors and typically you're closer to winning a wooden spoon than an actual NRL premiership.
It was a hole and it needed to be fixed, but how can you fix something when you can't even count on the boss to pay your players?
The juniors certainly improved from Smith's reign to Bennett's - however I'm unsure how much of a role Bennett actually played in that - I think the money Tinker put into the club in terms of the high performance unit for the juniors and money spent on coaching for them had the much bigger impact.
Money doesn't solve everything - see the Centre of Excellence. Bennett had a big hand in re-shaping the programs and devising a system that would help improve Newcastle Rugby League.
Just as he did up here in Queensland - who do you think came up with all those Emerging Squads in 2001? Choppy?
In fact, I believe he's doing the same in England as well - trying to get them to buy into grass-roots development and giving the teenage kids the polish they need to compete on the world stage.
Don't get me wrong, Bennett's time at the Knights wasn't perfect and yes he's contributed to the mess...but it wasn't his mess. Truth be told, the Knights have been a shambles since 2003, it just took Joey's retirement to expose how deep the rot had set in.
And I'm not saying that to insult you or your club. While I wasn't a fan at the time, I really enjoyed the brand of football Newcastle played from 95-03 and think the game is poorer without it. However, it's going to take a few years to even this out and a coach that's passionate about the game in Newcastle. Hopefully Brown can help ease the Knights into that transition, but I get the feeling it's going to take someone else to really get them over the line.
