Bennett helps Reynolds relieve the hype

He may be the coach of the NRL’s 17th team, the Dolphins, but Wayne Bennett is playing a major role in the Broncos’ revival, without club bosses knowing it.

Reynolds is in regular contact with Bennett, who is giving him advice on how to handle the transition from being a star in Sydney to the superstar status he now has in Brisbane. Reynolds is all over billboards in the Queensland capital and he has also signed a TV deal with Channel Nine’s Wide World of Sports. He is undoubtedly the face of the Broncos.

Adam Reynolds and Wayne Bennett formed a tight bond at Souths.Credit:Getty

“He’s a great mentor, great friend. I’ve got a great relationship with him. And we still keep in touch regularly. Obviously he gives me a lot of feedback and I respect his opinions, and he’s done a lot for me,” Reynolds said.

“He knows my game, he knows the game, the media, he knows everything inside out, especially at the Broncos and in Brisbane. So it’s always good to have someone in your corner who always gives me a bit of feedback.

Bennett has seen the excitement surrounding Reynolds and his advice is simple.

“He’d told me not to get caught up in all the hype,” Reynolds said. “There’s a lot of outside noise and outside expectations that you know come with that responsibility, but [his advice was] just to stay focused and do what’s important. That’s obviously working on myself and working on my teammates and my team, and making sure we get the best outcome possible for the club.

“I’m getting a feel for what it’s like to be in a one-team town. Souths was a huge club, but there were other teams to focus on in Sydney. Right now in Brisbane, it’s the Broncos. You don’t want to get caught up in the hype. As people we can tend to look sideways and get distracted, but the moment we do that we end up in a hole.

“For me, it’s about staying focused and staying relevant … relevant to what’s important and what really matters, and that’s the opinions of our coaches or teammates. I have to say that it’s a bit strange to see your face up on the billboards about the city. The feeling I get is the city are all behind us and it’s a good feeling. I’m so lucky that I’m still living out my dream.”

Reynolds is excited to be joining Channel Nine, which is owned by Nine Entertainment, which also owns this masthead.

“It’s always good to get out of the comfort zone and learn about what it’s like to be on the other side of the media,” Reynolds said.

Nine colleague and the game’s eighth Immortal, Andrew Johns, believes Reynolds is the player under the most pressure in the NRL this season.

“I can’t control what other people think or their expectations of me,” Reynolds said. “I can only control what’s in front of me and what I have to do, as a player and as a person. My job is pretty simple: to turn up and try and get the best out of myself and my teammates, and, if I do that, it should be a pretty successful year for us.”

I’m no coach: Cronk

Cooper Cronk is one of the sharpest minds in the NRL and appeared a natural coach in the making, but he has put a red line through that career path.

Cronk consults for two of the best teams in the NRL – the Roosters and the Storm – but says he never wants to be a head coach. “I think my days of crossing the line and getting involved, fully engaging, it’s not something I’m looking forward to being a part of,” he said.

“In my future I’m very comfortable doing the media stuff and learning along the way. It’s one thing to be considered as someone who could do it, but it also takes a lot of work, a certain personality and a desire to want to do it.

“I think I spent a long time sort of fighting for every inch in my career, but I think my days are done having an influence on the field or in the coaching box.

“In the media obviously you can dissect the games and have an impact with an opinion. My consulting roles allow me to sort of dip the toe in and influence some younger players and hopefully fast-track them, but I definitely enjoy the finer things.

“Things I can’t consider doing if I was a coach, like freedom or playing golf, spending time with my kids – you can’t do that too much when you’re a coach.”

Cronk is a QRL board member and the appointment of Cameron Smith to Billy Slater’s Maroons State of Origin coaching team is considered a certainty. Cronk and Smith had a very public falling-out after the halfback left the Storm in 2018 to join the Roosters.

“It would be great for Queensland to have him involved,” Cronk said. “Slater, Smith and [Johnathan] Thurston – the band’s back together. That will benefit the next generation of Queenslanders. I think you learn through experience, you learn through the example, but you also learn through osmosis and those three guys are the best ever.”

Hook’s Premier link

Anthony Griffin’s daughter is doing some babysitting for their Beecroft neighbour. Big deal? It is when your neighbour is the premier of the state, Dominic Perrottet. Griffin, who signed a contract extension with the Dragons during the week, has a big interest in politics. I have previously highlighted how he is a big Donald Trump fan and used his social media accounts to express that.

Praise for Dogs

The Bulldogs are rebuilding on and off the field. It was nice to receive this from the licensee of the Kootingal Hotel this week.

Hi Danny,
It was a pleasure for the Kootingal Hotel to host the Bulldogs for a casual dinner Thursday, Feb 3. Everyone who attended the hotel that night have commented on how respectful and polite the club was and how genuinely engaged the players and staff were. They were so obliging to other patrons that were there that evening, signing jumpers and posing for photos. When a [recruitment manager] Peter Sharp found out Ron, an 84-year-old Bulldogs supporter since he was born, was sitting up at the bar that night, he grabbed his beer to join Ron at the bar to chat with him. It was really nice to see such generous engagement from the Bulldogs with the football-loving community here.
Regards,
Andrew Yeo, licensee, Kootingal Hotel

NRL to reveal findings of Burgess investigation before season

The NRL is aiming to make the results of its investigation into Sam Burgess public before the season starts. NSW Police did not charge Burgess in regards to his alleged treatment of his former wife, Phoebe, after she levelled accusations of domestic violence and drug abuse against him. He denies the allegations.

Police decided not to pursue a case against Sam Burgess.Credit:Janie Barrett

It will be interesting to see if Burgess takes any action of his own in response. I have been told the NRL is unlikely to make any finding against him in relation to the domestic violence allegations. It is no coincidence that there has been more scrutiny of his behaviour in the media in the past two weeks. The NRL is closely examining his behaviour on the night of an alleged bender and, if substantiated, that could be a problem for the former Rabbitohs skipper.

The NRL is also looking closely at other allegations made about Burgess’ off-field conduct in relation to Roosters player Billy Smith.

Sorry situation

It has taken just one game of the 2022 season – the Indigenous All Stars match – to again demonstrate the flaws in the NRL’s judiciary system. Jordan Rapana, who was already suspended for one week for an off-season drink-driving offence, was hit with a two-week ban for a shoulder charge on David Fifita.

That left Canberra, who were already struggling for outside backs, with a significant penalty after they did the right thing in allowing Rapana to play in the culturally important match in the first place. The NRL almost seemed apologetic to Canberra and subsequently made the extraordinary decision to allow Rapana to serve both suspensions concurrently, meaning he really only serves one week for the shoulder charge.

Despite promises of reform, there has been no change to the system, which penalises clubs for incidents out of their control.

There is now growing support among club bosses for a system where players serve suspensions in the same type of game as the offence was committed. Rapana, for example, would miss the next two Indigenous All Stars games.

Offenders could still be sent straight to the judiciary for major incidents, however. There is also widespread support for the match review committee to be run by a body independent of the NRL.
They are ideas worth considering if the NRL ever gets around to it.

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