For weeks now Wayne Bennett has tried to laugh off our early-season report that he has lost his aura. Now he is making news for calling police because he thinks that News Corp has been staking him out as a photographer tries to snap photos of him and his new partner.
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Bennett is at war with the only paper in town; Bennett is interrogating players about leaking; he is dozing in team meetings; and he is at war with one of his former confidants, Fox and News Corp journalist Paul Kent, the man who sits beside Ben Ikin on NRL 360.
Ikin is married to Bennett's daughter. It places Ikin in an awkward position as there is considerable anger from Bennett's family towards Wayne because of the affair.
Bennett used to be a man the players looked up to. Those days appear to be disappearing.
His achievements on the field are exceptional, but some of his recent work is questionable. The way he left Newcastle in a mess and bolted to the Broncos typifies the new Bennett. Brisbane club bosses brought in Bennett because Lachlan Murdoch wanted him to get the job. Murdoch wasn't to know what a mess it would create.
Bennett doesn't quite get the media. He thinks it's there for him to manipulate, as he did when he was desperately campaigning for the Kangaroos job, which Mal Meninga eventually got. Bennett was providing information to journalists who could help him in his campaign. Meninga was aware of that.
Bennett thinks we write things for fun or not based on information. The truth is that Bennett's aura is gone. The sheds are not a happy place. He has professional players who are doing their job. For now.
Bennett needs to do the same and stop worrying about stuff that he recently referred to as "white noise".
