http://www.leaguehq.com.au/news/news/thoroughbreds-and-bennett-threaten-stampede-at-broncos/2007/04/05/1175366410242.html
Roy Masters | April 6, 2007
THE battle lines are drawn in Brisbane: coach Wayne Bennett and the Thoroughbreds against chief executive Bruno Cullen and the board. The subplot of this wrenching drama, which threatens one of Australia's most famous football clubs, is a possible takeover of the Broncos by the Thoroughbreds, originally a group of self-made men gathered together by Broncos founder Paul Morgan to assist retired players in their transition to business careers.
Relations between Bennett and Cullen, whom Bennett recommended for the Broncos post, have deteriorated, giving lie to the oft-expressed view that winning a premiership papers over the cracks in a club. Bennett once had overriding authority at the Broncos but when News Ltd, which owns 67 per cent, learnt he had made a secret deal to coach the Roosters this year, everything changed. News Ltd told Cullen he had to ensure the club had a future without Bennett, with the strong hint his own career depended on it.
Two weeks after the grand final, Bennett made a remark in the Broncos offices at Red Hill, Brisbane, which entrenched the battle lines. The Broncos board, consisting of chairman Darryl Somerville, Brisbane identity Don Jackson, News Ltd accountant Peter Jordain, long-term News Ltd employee Dennis Watt and Cullen, as managing director, met for a debrief. Senior administrative officers, the coaching staff and leading players were all quizzed.
When Bennett completed his verbal summary of the season, he left the board and entered the general office area at the club, where a staffer asked: "What happened?" Bennett said words to the effect, "What can they do? They can't sack me today. I've won a premiership."
The remark reflected the tensions the long-term coach felt after finally prevailing following five seasons in which his team had exited the play-off race ingloriously. Perhaps he felt the board had not shown him sufficient loyalty during the Broncos' post-Origin five-game losing slump and their 20-4 capitulation to the Dragons in the first round of the 2006 finals . . a time all of Brisbane was speculating "old man winner" could not keep rollin' along. But the "what can they do?" remark quickly reached the board, who deemed it "very ordinary".
Since then, many of the Thoroughbreds have rallied behind Bennett. Some, such as Rockhampton-raised property developer John Geaney, whose family company owns 10 per cent of the Broncos, are passionate in their support of Bennett, whom they see as a messiah.
"I'm there because I love footy and support Wayne Bennett," said Geaney, who owns accommodation rented by young Broncos and recently set up a player manager, Col Davis, who has been active signing young Queensland players to management contracts.
Another is Ken Talbot, the largest shareholder of Macarthur Coal, whose chairman is Don Nissen, a past chairman of the Broncos. Talbot, with assets of half-a-billion dollars, is also head of a syndicate which recently sold five Queensland hotels, managed by Cullen's predecessor at the Broncos, Shane Edwards.
Recently retired Broncos legend Shane Webcke was a member of Talbot's hotel advisory board, and early this year he travelled with Talbot and Nissen to Europe examining nuclear power plants. The independently minded Webcke, close to Cullen and perhaps feeling himself at the centre of the tug of war for power, no longer accompanies Talbot on overseas business trips.
There can be no doubt about Talbot's loyalty to Bennett, who recently wrote a column in The Australian eulogising the Thoroughbreds. When a group of retired Queensland State of Origin players (called FOGs, or Former Origin Greats), approached Talbot for a sponsorship, they made the great mistake of criticising Bennett. Bennett and the FOGs are "off", as they say in the language of rugby league, because the former players, most of whom Bennett coached, see him charting a course different from their own. Talbot, after hearing the vitriol against Bennett, told some at the Broncos: "I don't want to have anything to do with those blokes."
Some of the Thoroughbreds, such as businessman Craig Davidson, are non-aligned but this would not stop them joining a consortium to buy out News Ltd's stake in the club. Geaney's 10 per cent is seen as strategic. It stops News Ltd acquiring 90 per cent of shares and selling the club to a sympathetic owner who would have no role for the Thoroughbreds. Geaney admits he could be perceived as a Trojan horse within the club. Perceived by some as a brumby among thoroughbreds, he admits to clashes with Broncos management, including an argument with Cullen over admission of guests to the Broncos grand final party.
Cullen downplays Geaney's influence, saying, "Geaney certainly has little to no influence over the Broncos," while conceding News Ltd would never surrender control of the club while it remains "Lachlan's team".
Roy Masters | April 6, 2007
THE battle lines are drawn in Brisbane: coach Wayne Bennett and the Thoroughbreds against chief executive Bruno Cullen and the board. The subplot of this wrenching drama, which threatens one of Australia's most famous football clubs, is a possible takeover of the Broncos by the Thoroughbreds, originally a group of self-made men gathered together by Broncos founder Paul Morgan to assist retired players in their transition to business careers.
Relations between Bennett and Cullen, whom Bennett recommended for the Broncos post, have deteriorated, giving lie to the oft-expressed view that winning a premiership papers over the cracks in a club. Bennett once had overriding authority at the Broncos but when News Ltd, which owns 67 per cent, learnt he had made a secret deal to coach the Roosters this year, everything changed. News Ltd told Cullen he had to ensure the club had a future without Bennett, with the strong hint his own career depended on it.
Two weeks after the grand final, Bennett made a remark in the Broncos offices at Red Hill, Brisbane, which entrenched the battle lines. The Broncos board, consisting of chairman Darryl Somerville, Brisbane identity Don Jackson, News Ltd accountant Peter Jordain, long-term News Ltd employee Dennis Watt and Cullen, as managing director, met for a debrief. Senior administrative officers, the coaching staff and leading players were all quizzed.
When Bennett completed his verbal summary of the season, he left the board and entered the general office area at the club, where a staffer asked: "What happened?" Bennett said words to the effect, "What can they do? They can't sack me today. I've won a premiership."
The remark reflected the tensions the long-term coach felt after finally prevailing following five seasons in which his team had exited the play-off race ingloriously. Perhaps he felt the board had not shown him sufficient loyalty during the Broncos' post-Origin five-game losing slump and their 20-4 capitulation to the Dragons in the first round of the 2006 finals . . a time all of Brisbane was speculating "old man winner" could not keep rollin' along. But the "what can they do?" remark quickly reached the board, who deemed it "very ordinary".
Since then, many of the Thoroughbreds have rallied behind Bennett. Some, such as Rockhampton-raised property developer John Geaney, whose family company owns 10 per cent of the Broncos, are passionate in their support of Bennett, whom they see as a messiah.
"I'm there because I love footy and support Wayne Bennett," said Geaney, who owns accommodation rented by young Broncos and recently set up a player manager, Col Davis, who has been active signing young Queensland players to management contracts.
Another is Ken Talbot, the largest shareholder of Macarthur Coal, whose chairman is Don Nissen, a past chairman of the Broncos. Talbot, with assets of half-a-billion dollars, is also head of a syndicate which recently sold five Queensland hotels, managed by Cullen's predecessor at the Broncos, Shane Edwards.
Recently retired Broncos legend Shane Webcke was a member of Talbot's hotel advisory board, and early this year he travelled with Talbot and Nissen to Europe examining nuclear power plants. The independently minded Webcke, close to Cullen and perhaps feeling himself at the centre of the tug of war for power, no longer accompanies Talbot on overseas business trips.
There can be no doubt about Talbot's loyalty to Bennett, who recently wrote a column in The Australian eulogising the Thoroughbreds. When a group of retired Queensland State of Origin players (called FOGs, or Former Origin Greats), approached Talbot for a sponsorship, they made the great mistake of criticising Bennett. Bennett and the FOGs are "off", as they say in the language of rugby league, because the former players, most of whom Bennett coached, see him charting a course different from their own. Talbot, after hearing the vitriol against Bennett, told some at the Broncos: "I don't want to have anything to do with those blokes."
Some of the Thoroughbreds, such as businessman Craig Davidson, are non-aligned but this would not stop them joining a consortium to buy out News Ltd's stake in the club. Geaney's 10 per cent is seen as strategic. It stops News Ltd acquiring 90 per cent of shares and selling the club to a sympathetic owner who would have no role for the Thoroughbreds. Geaney admits he could be perceived as a Trojan horse within the club. Perceived by some as a brumby among thoroughbreds, he admits to clashes with Broncos management, including an argument with Cullen over admission of guests to the Broncos grand final party.
Cullen downplays Geaney's influence, saying, "Geaney certainly has little to no influence over the Broncos," while conceding News Ltd would never surrender control of the club while it remains "Lachlan's team".
