Ikin: Bennett’s axe is permanent

[cram]

http://www.theherald.com.au/news/lo...e/ikin-bennetts-axe-is-permanent/2583910.aspx

Ikin: Bennett’s axe is permanent


BY ROBERT DILLON
08 Jun, 2012 04:00 AM
ONE of Wayne Bennett’s closest confidants has warned that the master coach will have no hesitation in sacking players if Newcastle’s results do not improve by season’s end.

Speaking on the NRL on Fox show on Wednesday night, panellist Ben Ikin said Bennett was disappointed that some Knights players had not measured up to expectations.

Ikin said if that trend was to continue, those players would be shown the door once the season was over.

The former Test utility’s comments carry extra weight as he is Bennett’s son-in-law, and few would have a better understanding of the veteran tactician’s mindset after winning just four games in his first half-season at the Knights.

‘‘Wayne’s about building football organisations,’’ Ikin said. ‘‘So he’s come to the Knights. He’s seen what he likes. He’s seen what he doesn’t like ... What can I say on behalf of Wayne and the Newcastle Knights?
‘‘I know that next year they’re going to be better than this year, and in four years time he’s going to take them as close as he possibly can to winning a grand final.’’

Asked by fellow pundit Matthew Johns if Bennett thought his players were ‘‘up to it’’, Ikin replied: ‘‘This year? And what’s up to it, mate? Winning a grand final?

‘‘He’s drawn a line in the sand and said there’s some players here at the moment who are not buying into the standards he believes you need to live by and play by to win grand finals. ‘‘And if those players haven’t bought in by the end of this year, well they’ll be gone. ‘‘They won’t be at the club.’’

Ikin was also asked by panellist Mark Geyer what Bennett thinks of the culture he inherited at the Knights.

‘‘He’s fixing it,’’ Ikin replied. ‘‘Not everything was 100 per cent. ‘‘There’s some that he likes, and some that he doesn’t like. ‘‘The stuff that he’s not enjoying, he’s going to get it out of the joint. That’s what good leaders do.’’

Offered a chance to respond to Ikin’s remarks, Knights officials declined to comment yesterday. But it is no secret Newcastle have a host of players coming off contract.

The list of free agents includes veterans Danny Buderus and Willie Mason, established forwards Joel Edwards, Richie Fa’aoso and Evarn Tuimavave and fringe players Chris Adams, Marvin Filipo, Siuatonga Likiliki and Kevin Naiqama.

Former Kiwi Test forward Zeb Taia has already signed with French Super League outfit Catalans Dragons.

Buderus and Mason have both indicated they plan to play on next season and have stated strong cases for retention with impressive on-field performances.

Edwards was apparently close to re-signing before Bennett ordered a ceasefire recently on contract negotiations.

Fa’aoso and Tuimavave have been up and down the grades all season and, given that they have been dropped to NSW Cup this week, appear to be on the outer.

Likiliki was a star signing last year from the Warriors’ under-20s, but the 22-year-old has not been sighted in the NRL this year and the recent signing of Dane Gagai may have sealed his fate.

The big question is whether Bennett will consider asking contracted players to move on.

Last season, when Bennett was still at St George Illawarra, Newcastle players Cory Paterson, Mark Taufua, Antonio Kaufusi and Beau Henry were told they did not fit into the incoming coach’s plans.

All took the hint and found new clubs, albeit after receiving partial payouts from the Knights. It remains to be seen if, 12 months down the track, Bennett will venture down a similar path.

 

[macavity]

I see half the regular squad being punted tbh

Hilder
Eddie
Sau
Naiqama
Nev
Evarn
Fuss

for a start

 

[Frederick]

Wonder how much Sau and Naiqama would cost us

 

[Joker's Wild]

I cant see Kev staying if big brother Wes is moved on. Given he has Aku, Jimmy and Boyd in front of him and they both hold Fiji passports I reckon they will both end up playing in the ESL together.

 

[Aragorn]

One thing I noticed, there werent a lot of polynesians playing at the Broncos or at the Saints during Bennetts tenure. Could that be a hint as well? Dont get me wrong, I'm not a playing a race card here, just a general observation.

 

[Hooch]

That would be because Wayne Bennet is well known for eating his Polynesian players.

 

[Joker's Wild]

That would be because Wayne Bennet is well known for eating his Polynesian players.

Da f**k?

 

[The Showstopper]

Agreed Joker. WTF!

 

[The Showstopper]

I wonder if Le Catalans and Robbo can take Junior and Wes. Zeb already going. Why not? Ambitious ESL club.

 

[Bring it home Knights]

Wes was hopeless on the weekend, no doubt. However I am not willing to give up on him just yet. He's been in and out of the team all year and this makes it hard to hit good form. How peoples opinions have changed on here within the last 12 months. It wasn;t that long ago that people were saying he is a must signing. Since then he has played only 7 games and those have been in 3 spurts.

 

[Yosh]

Wes would do well at an ESL club as a goal kicking fullback.

 

[aqua_duck]

I've never been a Wes fan, he's deadset had a dozen good games in his whole time here and we gave him a new contract on the back of that

 

[B-dos]

i for one am looking forward to seeing the axe fall on many of our substandard players and to bennett implementing the professional and hardworkkng attitude our club has been lacking for so long

 

[Ronnie Dobbs]

One thing I noticed, there werent a lot of polynesians playing at the Broncos or at the Saints during Bennetts tenure. Could that be a hint as well? Dont get me wrong, I'm not a playing a race card here, just a general observation.

Mate, we were the whitest team to earn a victory since the Nazis invaded Poland.

Its no secret at all. In these PC days, lamentably, its hard to put it forward without some do gooder leaping the defence of someone they deserve worthy, but, ahhh, certain types of players have certain types of inherant traits.

Bennett like workers. 17 blokes who can pull their weight across the park and not play in spurts.

The Poly boys are dynamic and explosive, but few are 80 minute grinders. The ones who are, generally have no problems. You look at Dell, Nev, Lote, Renouf, Thaiday, Petero and its clear there's no racial issues there.

Look at Jeremy Smith. The only Polynesian I can recall (not Lote or Petrol) I can recall who would fit that mould.

Bennett loves 80 minute grinders.

 

[Joker's Wild]

Fijians aren't Polynesian mate, they are Melanesian

 

[Ronnie Dobbs]

Fijians aren't Polynesian mate, they are Melanesian

You've been programmed for to kill the Prime Minister of Micronesia?

Thanks for the correction mate.

Jezza is the only Polynesian I can recall Bennett sticking with in the Pigs.

 

[Chicken_Hunter]

I really liked what Ikin had to say on NRL on Fox. He pretty much said what most of us were thinking.

There are players here who dont look like they want to be here and dont like Wayne's style. Looks like Wayne has given the team 1 season, whoever doesn't like what he is about they are gone, and in come players that believe in Bennetts style.

We will be fine. One day we will look back on 2012 and see it as a foundation of a dynasty.

 

[Silent Knight]

End of the 2012 Season...

HERE'S BENNY

 

[perverse]

I really liked what Ikin had to say on NRL on Fox. He pretty much said what most of us were thinking.

There are players here who dont look like they want to be here and dont like Wayne's style. Looks like Wayne has given the team 1 season, whoever doesn't like what he is about they are gone, and in come players that believe in Bennetts style.

We will be fine. One day we will look back on 2012 and see it as a foundation of a dynasty.

agreed.

 

[Joker's Wild]

Some interesting thoughts from Matty here

In 1987, Don Furner gave Wayne Bennett a big coaching break. He brought Bennett down from Brisbane to be his co-coach with Canberra Raiders. Canberra would go on to make the grand final that year.

Bennett never looked back. He is now rugby league's greatest coach. How ironic then that Don Furner's son, David, will travel to Newcastle this week and face up to Bennett in a match that could well determine his own coaching career.

If Bennett wasn't under so much pressure, he might be tempted to give Furner a break of his own.


That's why the big story won't be Furner when Newcastle Knights take on the Raiders this Saturday night.

The Tinkler-Bennett era at Newcastle began with locals asking how many comps they were about to win. The questions now have nothing to do with premiership victories, but rather a simple: "What's going on?"

That's why you're seeing the strain on Wayne's face. Hard work and tough decisions have never been a problem for Bennett.



But this is different.

He appears to be at a loss to unearth exactly what is wrong with this football team. In the pre-season, the Knights trained harder and prepared better than ever before.

See how the Knights fared in our Mid-season Report Card.

Kurt Gidley, a man who would be in the top five fittest individuals in the game, spoke of the fitness sessions with genuine horror. He said he'd never been fitter.

Wayne's Woes
Can beleaguered Newcastle coach Wayne Bennett turn them around?
Yes Give him time to work his magic
No The Knights are a lost cause
Ask any of the Broncos or Dragons and they'll tell you no coach works his players harder during the summer months than Wayne Bennett. The players spoke about the quality of their ball work, the confidence in the squad and the aura of the coach.

When the Knights ran out on the opening night of the season to take on the Dragons at Hunter Stadium, I didn't expect miracles. But I did expect them to explode out of the gates from the outset.

Instead they looked tired, lethargic and lacked any sort of spark in attack.

Thirteen rounds in, nothing at all has changed.

After observing plenty of Bennett press conferences over the years, I've always had the feeling that the more confident Wayne feels the less he talks. In the last few weeks he has done a lot of talking.

After the Knights' shocking performance in their loss to the Titans a fortnight ago, Bennett did something I don't think I've ever seen him do before. He referred to his playing group as "them". He spoke of how embarrassed he was of "their" performance.

Bennett has always prided himself on protecting his players. This was unlike him.

Then after the Broncos loss Bennett felt the need to explain what he was doing and what his plans were for the Newcastle club. I've never seen Wayne feel the need to explain any of his methods to anyone, let alone a press conference.

The Broncos game was an interesting one. After the Titans loss, Bennett reportedly threw out all high-tech training devices and methods and just had the Knights return to a good old-fashioned week of hard work.


Plenty of sweat and a little bit of blood in search of an answer - a proven method.

See what the NRL of Fox panel had to say about what's going wrong for Bennett and the Knights in the video on the right.

On top of that the Knights were challenged by the club's greatest player, Andrew Johns.

Joey's a funny one. No former player deserves to wield a big stick more, but getting a strong opinion out of Andrew is like trying to coax him into shouting at the bar. It requires a lot of cunning and prompting.

So when Andrew labelled the Knights' players performance against the Gold Coast as "hopeless, inept and disgraceful", I felt confident that their Brisbane performance would mark a turnaround in the club's poor season.

A sign at Suncorp stadium from a Knights fan said it all perfectly: "Where's the passion?"

Yet, 20 minutes in they found themselves 24-0 down. Hopeless, inept, disgraceful. Wayne must have been at a loss of what to do next.

To their credit they fought back hard, showed some fight and were in a position to win. But under pressure with the result on the line, Newcastle came undone badly before the Broncos demolished them in the final 15 minutes. And what of Nathan Tinkler? What was he thinking? That must be adding to the strain as well.

Bennett has dealt with plenty of big and overbearing personalities in the past, but not many like the big mining magnate and former Muswellbrook Rams front-rower. Tinkler has proven that he can do two things very, very well - make money and sack people.

When the Knights lose, Tinkler doesn't try to hide his pain and anguish from the players or the coach in the sheds afterwards. One former Knights player said that during a post-match team address by Bennett earlier this year, the players sat nervously with one eye on the coach and one eye on the owner, who was hovering with intent.

But I have no doubt Bennett is strong enough to handle Tinkler. So let's revert to Wayne's greatest challenge - fixing his squad.

This is a team that has only reached the final-four twice in the past decade, and that was with Andrew Johns steering the ship. The core of this playing group, who have worn the red and blue during the past five or six years, have dealt with very little expectation or big-game pressure.

Bennett's arrival at Newcastle was seen as a blessing, but to some it appears too much. Too much expectation and too much pressure.

When you get Wayne Bennett, that's what you get: expectation and pressure. When you're winning, it's a story. When you're losing, it's a big story. When David Furner walks into Hunter Stadium this Saturday night, he's not the only one with his future in the balance.

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