Big win over Eels cornered Dragons
19.09.2009
By: Stuart Honeysett, Dan Koch
HE has coached Australia, Queensland and won six premierships with the Broncos, but Wayne Bennett said he faced one of the toughest weeks of his career in the lead-up to St George Illawarra's loss to Parramatta in the opening week of the finals.
Speaking after a training session at Kogarah Oval yesterday before the Dragons' sudden death semi-final against Brisbane at Suncorp Stadium tonight, Bennett admitted it had been tough to get the players up to face the Eels again after they had crushed them 37-0 in the last round of the regular season.
``That was the toughest week's coaching I've had to put in for a long while, having to back up and play Parramatta again,'' the Dragons coach said.
``I wished I was (Eels coach) Daniel Anderson last week on numerous occasions because it was a lot easier for them to get up for us than it was the reverse.
``I probably wouldn't have played our best team in the last game of the season. I didn't intend to do that, but the problem for us was we were out of form and had to put our best team on the park. I didn't have an alternative. We had to get some confidence heading into September and we did.''
Bennett maintained that the Dragons would be at full strength tonight even though prop Michael Weyman (soreness) missed training yesterday and fullback Darius Boyd (knee) left the field before the session was over.
The Broncos had some concerns of their own after strike centre Justin Hodges (tightness) failed to take part in the final session. Coach Ivan Henjak said he was only a 50-50 chance to play.
``He pulled up a little tight after training on Tuesday so we will just have to wait until tomorrow to see how he is,'' Henjak said.
``He is in some doubt. It isn't great timing. If we could have avoided this it would have been handy, but we haven't and we have to live with it. We will check him tomorrow and hopefully everything will be OK. He will see the medical staff in the morning. If he feels confident we will back him.''
The last time the two sides met, the Broncos chiselled out a 12-2 win to snap an eight-game losing streak against the Dragons that stretched back to 2005. But Bennett said his side's impressive record would count for very little by kick-off.
``It's all immaterial,'' Bennett said.
``You get out there tomorrow night and you've got to get the job done on the night. And if we're not up to it, it doesn't matter what we've done in the past against the Broncos or vice versa or whether we finished first or wherever they finished. It's just all gone.''
However, while Bennett did not want to make much of a fuss about records, Henjak said the Dragons coach had to take ownership of the fact that the Broncos had never won a finals game at Suncorp Stadium in six attempts during his 21 years at the club.
``It doesn't faze us at all,'' said Henjak. ``In (all) six of those losses, Wayne was the coach.
``He hasn't won (a final) at Suncorp either, so maybe that squares it up a little. The Broncos haven't won, but neither has Wayne.''
Broncos forward David Taylor was the difference between the two sides recently in Wollongong, setting up a try and scoring one himself to save the Broncos' finals campaign.
Bennett said Taylor had been in destructive form as a wide ball-runner and the Dragons would have to improve their defence to contain him this time.
