Wayne Bennett hasn’t the best of relationships with the press. He has applied the siege mentality approach so successful in State of Origin campaigns to create unity within the Broncos. And while that approach has had some success, with the latest Broncos premiership campaign facing the usual end of season slump Bennett’s protestations that the Broncos are not in a slump are worrying signs.
The Broncos has lost 4 of their past 6 games. They are still in the top four but could be lapped by a number of teams if they do not pick up their game. From this comment on League Unlimited, here is how the Broncos fared in the final rounds over the past few seasons:
2003
Round 17 1 L 16-32 v Dragons (A)
Round 18 2 L 4-40 v Bulldogs (H)
Round 19 3 W 26-22 v Storm (A)
Round 20 4 L 20-26 v Sea Eagles (H)
Round 21 5 L 10-20 v Sharks (A)
Round 22 6 L 6-13 v Panthers (H)
Round 23 7 L 10-12 v Tigers (H)
Round 24 8 L 14-22 v Warriors (A)
Round 25 9 L 14-16 v Eels (H)
Round 26 10 L 25-26 v Dragons (H)
Qualifying Finals 11 L 18-28 v Panthers
2004
Round 17 12 W 48-28 v Souths (H)
Round 18 13 W 28-14 v Dragons (A)
Round 19 14 W 16-12 v Knights (A)
Round 20 15 W 26-12 v Sea Eagles (H)
Round 21 16 W 16-12 v Sharks (A)
Round 22 17 W 21-14 v Warriors (A)
Round 23 18 L 18-46 v Bulldogs (H)
Round 24 19 W 24-20 v Tigers (H)
Round 25 20 D 34-34 v Souths (A)
Round 26 21 L 20-46 v Panthers (A)
Qualifying Finals 22 L 14-31 v Storm
Semi-Final 23 L 0-10 v Cowboys
2005
Round 20 24 L 22-29 v Bulldogs (A)
Round 21 25 W 24-18 v Raiders (H)
Round 22 26 L 20-21 v Sea Eagles (A)
Round 23 27 L 4-24 v Dragons (H)
Round 24 28 L 20-22 v Panthers (A)
Round 25 29 L 10-17 v Roosters (H)
Round 26 30 L 14-28 v Eels (A)
Finals Week One 31 L 18-24 v Storm (H)
Finals Week Two 32 L 6-34 v Tigers
2006 is not looking any better. The Broncos run home is The Storm, Bulldogs, the Eels and the Warriors. Apart from the Warriors the other three are the form teams at the moment. Depending on how results go the Broncos could drop out of the eight (assuming the Broncos and a few other teams end up on 28 points and that is the cut off mark).
Now this rallying behind the team is all well and good but it doesn’t always work. Hark back to Parramatta coach Brian Smith at the beginning of the season. The Eels were in a crisis yet for Smithy it was business as usual. There was unwillingness by Smith to accept that there were problems. Eventually he resigned and Jason Taylor has done a marvelous job with the Eels since.
Like Brian Smith earlier this year, Bennett’s time is up. He has a coaching record to be proud of but the Broncos are stale and Bennett must finally take responsibility. The trouble with Bennett is that the siege mentality has blinded him to the problems with the Broncos and his own coaching.
Goodbye Wayne.
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