“Greenie taught me a lot about attention to detail. He was really specific about how he wanted us to play, what it looked like and how it was going to happen. Wayne is more about, ‘How do I get this guy excited about wearing this jersey?’ He does that in a unique way, with different personalities. His ability to connect with people of all different backgrounds and ages is his strength.”

And he’s been doing it for – dot three, carry one, subtract two – more than 45 years!

The surly one has never tried to be one of the boys – he doesn’t drink, smoke or gamble, for starters – but like the stories I have heard about Craig Bellamy at his best, Bennett’s players feel like they are more than numbers, and want to play for him, and win.

I repeat: he’s been doing it a long time.

This week a reader, Tim Wilson, sent me the copy of a program from the 1979 Brisbane Rugby League grand final, between the mighty Fortitude Valley Diehards and the Southern Suburbs. It presents as a fascinating time capsule.

Playing for the Valleys team that day was a lock by the name of Wally Lewis, who’d left school the year before. A chunky bloke from the bush, Chris “Choppy” Close, was in the centres. Their “captain/coach” – this was back in the day when that was still quite the thing – was legendary halfback Ross Strudwick, who would puff on a durry while delivering his team talk at half-time!

For Souths, the rising star was one Mal Meninga, playing in his first year in A grade, and the coach was – are you way ahead of me? – a recently retired police officer by the name of Wayne Bennett. He had taken over the team two years earlier and his first season delivered a wooden spoon. Untroubled, he said it would take another two years to lift the team to the top of the leaderboard, but it wasn’t easy. At the beginning of the 1979 season, Souths could offer only $200 for a win, so 16 players walked out.

No matter. Bennett didn’t blink.

“Somehow,” as Wilson notes, “Bennett managed to mould a bunch of reserve graders and C-graders and take them all the way to the granny.”

The game almost didn’t happen. On the Thursday evening, a disgruntled player from Gympie – who had just copped a long suspension – protested by chopping down the Lang Park goalposts, as you do.

On the day, the Fortitude Valley blokes, led by Lewis – who was man of the match – were too strong and won 26-0. But the foundations of Bennett’s successful coaching career were laid and . . .

And you get the drift. The Bennett story really is astonishing. He started coaching and was successful in an era when other coaches smoked at half-time, where $200 a match counted as professionalism, where a bloke taking an axe to the goalposts wasn’t out of the box.

Loading

And somehow, the most notable thing he brings to the table – care – is still relevant and working in an age when players are on millions and it sometimes seems coaching is more science than art.

I suspect the Broncos will win on Friday, but either way, it is a great bit of sporting theatre.

Stream the NRL Premiership 2023 live and free on 9Now.

Sports news, results and expert commentary. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.