Have the Broncos lost faith in Wayne Bennett, and can he prove them wrong?
Related Story: Bellamy hasn't considered Storm's contract offer, Bennett to see out Broncos deal
The mysterious, sometimes combative mutterings of Wayne Bennett were once considered pearls of wisdom uttered by a wily old fox.
Now with the NRL's most successful coach facing a fight to retain his job, and even his dignity, Bennett sounds more like the litigant in an age discrimination case.
"There is a factor for me with age with health and age and I've got to make sure I'm capable of doing the job I am right now," the 68-year-old Bennett conceded when confronted with the Broncos' plot to replace him with Melbourne Storm's own master coach Craig Bellamy.
But typically, Bennett was no more willing to accept a gold watch and a novelty-sized farewell card from the Broncos than he might have been to put Peter Beattie in the front row.
"I feel great physically and mentally. I'm not going to be defined by my age. I may well want to coach later on but if the club doesn't see that's relevant, then I'll coach somewhere else."
It would be wrong to consider Bennett's pending replacement as solely the consequence of the digits on his yellowing birth certificate.
Having re-hired Bennett at the age of 65, unless the Broncos are refusing to give pensioner discounts in the souvenir shop they can hardly be accused of discriminating against the elderly.
Especially given their desired replacement Bellamy is, at 58, the NRL's second-oldest coach.
No chill in Brisbane as premiership wait goes on
Rather, this is just another case of the NRL's wealthiest and most ambitious club using its considerable means to chase the premiership it has craved since 2006 — the start of what is, by the Broncos' aspirational standards, an unthinkable 11-year premiership drought.
Last NRL premiership wins:
- Parramatta Eels: 1986
- Canberra Raiders: 1994
- Newcastle Knights: 2001
- Penrith Panthers: 2003
- Canterbury Bulldogs: 2004
- Wests Tigers: 2005
- Brisbane Broncos: 2006
- St George-Illawarra: 2010
- Manly Sea Eagles: 2011
- Sydney Roosters: 2013
- South Sydney Rabbitohs: 2014
- Nth Queensland Cowboys: 2015
- Cronulla Sharks: 2016
- Melbourne Storm: 2017
* Auckland / New Zealand Warriors: no wins since 1995
** Gold Coast Titans: no wins since 2007
That Bennett has not delivered that premiership since his return in 2015 is the source of sincere regret. Queenslanders love their own almost as much as they despise outsiders. There is no greater unfulfilled fantasy in the NRL than King Wayne returning to win his eighth, and the Broncos' seventh title.
However, the moment the Broncos knocked on Bellamy's door the faith that bound Brisbane and Bennett was broken.
It would therefore be remarkable — even allowing for the elastic loyalties of the NRL — if the proud Bennett could deliver that cherished title in the 18 months remaining on his contract under the cloud of imminent replacement.
The awkward question that no one in the Broncos' front office will want to answer is whether Bennett's ouster is simply wise succession planning. Or has the club lost faith in its greatest servant's ability to deliver that long-ish awaited flag?
Either way, Bennett's age is clearly a factor. In that context we might once have turned to the gnarled veterans coaching in America's National Football League or the English Premier League where age was traditionally equated with wisdom far more than had become the case in Australia.
The average age of the AFL coach, particularly, has fallen in recent years (currently 46.1) with those who have completed assistant-coaching apprenticeships appointed on the supposition they are more attuned to increasingly sophisticated game tactics than recycled veterans.
The average age of the NRL coach is 48.3, although that number is skewed by two outliers. Bennett and Bellamy are the only coaches outside the 40 (Trent Barrett) to 52 (Shane Flanagan) age bracket.
The seemingly young average age of Australia's top domestic football coaches was once used to condemn our administrators for throwing away valuable experience and knowledge.
Yet now comparisons with foreign leagues from where Australian clubs draw so much footballing IP suggests our clubs were ahead of the curve.
At the start of the last NFL season, the average age of the coach had fallen to 53.4 upon the appointment of a number of younger coaches including the 31-year-old Sean McVay of the Los Angeles Rams. McVay was one of four coaches aged below 40, unheard of in a league where coaching interviews were once conducted in rocking chairs.
Long-term managers leaving as shelf lives get shorter
In the EPL, Sir Alex Ferguson was the poster boy for coaching longevity across the planet.
Other veteran managers such as the craggy-faced relegation specialist Harry Redknapp perpetrated the notion that age and experience created success and stability as they moved from club to club.
Now the sad final seasons of 68-year-old Arsene Wenger have become a cautionary tale for clubs who hang on to beloved coaches for too long; a sentiment that might echo in Brisbane right now as they deal with another 68-year-old.
Accordingly, the average age of the EPL manager at the start of the recently completed season was 49.9 years with only Wenger older than 60 and Bournemouth's Eddie Howe just 39.
The figures are skewed by English clubs now defaulting to "foreign" managers in their prime rather than the recycled old faces who once shuffled between benches.
Perhaps in belated recognition that as trends in football change the shelf lives of coaches are also expiring more rapidly.
Bennett has survived for so long because he has always been ahead of the game. In his man-management, particularly, he has created the template which others followed.
Now he might be put on the clock with just eighteen months to prove the game has not passed him by. It seems an indignity for the greatest NRL coach.
But then, can you imagine the expression on Bennett's face holding the 2018 or 2019 premiership trophy surrounded by the Broncos officials who had already appointed his replacement?
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