Broncos greats defend Alfie
By Michael Westlake, Greg Davis and Damien Stannard
October 19, 2008
WAYNE Bennett's claim that Allan Langer was not a good leader has been ridiculed as rubbish by Brisbane greats who united in their support of the Broncos' most successful captain.
Bennett's record-breaking 21-year tenure at the Broncos is finishing with a sad and bitter end after the Dragons-bound coach took a public swipe at Langer and Brisbane chief executive Bruno Cullen at a corporate speaking engagement on Friday.
Bennett's criticism of Cullen, while churlish and unwarranted, is probably understandable given it was Cullen who decided the 58-year-old's contract would not be renewed at Red Hill.
But his attack on Langer, the man who as Broncos captain delivered Bennett the first four of his six premierships, has baffled some of rugby league's best on-field generals.
Langer was putting on a brave face on Saturday while in camp with the Australia World Cup team in Sydney, refusing to enter into a slanging match with his former mentor.
"I'm not worried about it mate," Langer said. "That's life and I'm just going to get on with it. I don't want to come into it to be honest. I'm just going to get on with things."
But those close to the legendary former Australia and Queensland State of Origin skipper said Bennett's criticism had left the likeable larrikin shattered and bewildered. He was not alone, with former teammates leaping to Langer's defence.
The man most qualified to talk about rugby league leadership, Queensland's greatest captain Wally Lewis, was among those left scratching his head at Bennett's criticism.
"I'm as bewildered as everybody else," Lewis said. "There would be a lot of people today using Wayne's quote 'I just don't get it, I just don't get it'.
"Only Wayne would know the background to the statement but I must admit I find it a bit confusing.
"His record certainly speaks for itself. Alf achieved everything in the game as a player and a captain."
Langer's long-time scrum-base partner and fellow Broncos and Queensland captain Kevin Walters also argued Langer's credentials as a leader could not be questioned.
"I'm not sure what Benny is trying to say but Alfie was a great leader in my opinion," Walters said. "I was never captained by anybody better.
"He always led by example and was truly inspirational, for sure and certain. In my time at the Broncos I thought he did a marvellous job as captain."
Current Australia coach Ricky Stuart, another successful team captain and rival of Langer's during their playing days, said Bennett and the Broncos owed all their early success to the diminutive No. 7.
"Allan Langer is one of the greatest leaders by example on and off the football field that I have ever seen in rugby league," Stuart said.
"Great leaders get in the trenches with their fellow people and that's what he does. That's why he is involved in the Australian team.
"Almost all of the Broncos' success came under Alfie's great leadership. People would not have heard of the Broncos if it wasn't for him."
Trevor Gillmeister, who played under Langer's captaincy in the 1992 and 1993 grand finals and later went on to captain Queensland himself in 1995, rated Langer as "a terrific player, captain and bloke".
"Bagging Alf is like bagging Santa Claus," Gillmeister said. "I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion. I just don't know how many people would agree with it. Alf was not the type of bloke who would stand up and deliver Churchillian speeches, but that doesn't mean he wasn't a good leader.
"Some blokes are very good at inspiring the players around them with the right words at the right time, but Alf was all about inspiring them by his actions and setting an example for them to follow.
"You don't have to be a prick to be a good leader. Bennett's probably insinuating that Alf never hauled blokes over the coals, but that was not his job. That's the coach's job.
"I don't know where Wayne is coming from. He's got a bee in his bonnet about the Broncos, but why he would go about it like that . . . I think he probably regrets saying it now."
Another member of the 1992 and 1993 premiership teams Gavin Allen, now in camp with Langer and the Aussies as Kangaroo team manager, said reading Bennett's criticism had rocked Ipswich's most famous export.
"I've spoken to him, and yeah, he's disappointed," Allen said. "I think it hurt him, but Alf is not the type of bloke who's going to come out swinging. He's just being his normal, humble self."
Allen said he could not fault Langer as a captain, and said Bennett's criticism would have left most former and current Broncos puzzled.
"Well, he hasn't done too bad for a bloke who's not a leader to win four premierships as captain," he said. "I can't comprehend why Wayne would attack Alf like that. As far as I knew there was no animosity between them at all.
"It really wasn't a sensible comment from Wayne. How can you argue that a bloke who had so much success in the game, despite his size, was not a terrific leader of men?
"Well, I'll tell you what: I played under Alf. He was my captain. And I'm telling you he was a great leader.
"If you speak to anyone who played under Alf, they would say the same thing. He is a leader, not a follower. His record alone as captain of Brisbane, Queensland and Australia should be enough to prove that those comments are ridiculous."
Asked how other former players would react to Bennett's comments, Allen said: "To be honest, a lot of them won't even take any notice of what he has to say.
"Look, Wayne has an axe to grind with the club after what has happened between him and the Broncos in the last couple of years. He obviously feels now is the time to voice a few opinions.
"But what I would say to Wayne is that there is no mileage to be had in running down a bloke who has given him such incredible service over so many years, and been so loyal to the cause."
Fellow ex-Bronco hardman Kevin Campion said: "Playing with (Langer) made me want to be a better player purely because of the respect I had for him. He was an inspiration."
When contacted yesterday, Bennett told The Sunday Mail he was not criticising Langer as a player, but that his personality type meant that he could not be a good leader.
"There is no bigger fan of Allan Langer than I am, and I've been one all his life," Bennett said
"I was doing a leadership course, OK? (Some) people don't like being disliked and Alf is one of those guys, he just doesn't like to be disliked.
"The point I made to the audience was that if you are in that category, then leadership is difficult for you, and it is. It is enormously difficult.
"He is a wonderful leader as a player but his difficulty is it does affect the job you are going to do in the future because he is not the head coach."
