Wayne Bennett only got his opportunity to coach alongside Don Furner at Canberra after a failed coup by Allan McMahon, but he believes similar coaching partnerships would increase the odds of a rookie mentor surviving in the job.
Since Bennett and Furner took the Raiders to the 1987 grand final as co-coaches, there have been 18 coaches who lasted no more than two years in their first stint and never worked as an NRL head coach again.
With the list including the foundation coaches at North Queensland, the South Queensland Crushers, Western Reds and Adelaide Rams, the idea of Bennett mentoring a younger coach at a second Brisbane club like Furner did with him has merit.
It was Bennett’s first appointment at the top level and the seven-time premiership winning mentor doubts he would have achieved the success he has had if not for the season he spent with Furner in Canberra.
Bennett was involved in determining a succession plan when he leaves South Sydney at the end of the 2021 season and will help prepare assistant Jason Demetriou to take over from him.
He proposed a similar arrangement in his final season with Brisbane but the Broncos rejected the idea of him working alongside his successor for 12 months and he joined the Rabbitohs last year in a virtual swap with Anthony Seibold.
“It’s the best way to do it unless you have a ready-made coach there to take over, which most clubs don’t,” Bennett said.
“We are all young coaches trying to make our way through so we don’t know whether we are going to make it or not. No one knows.”
Bennett’s unique coaching relationship with Furner has been in the spotlight since the foundation Raiders coach passed away last week after a long illness and he described 1987 as “the best year of my coaching life”.
“I didn’t do one interview all year, it was so good,” Bennett said.
“Don handled all of that and he handled the team selections, and I was just allowed to coach.”
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Without the distraction of fronting press conferences or dealing with the media, Bennett believes he was able to focus solely on learning the coaching ropes.
Demetriou is also likely to be able to escape such pressures as he prepares to take over the Rabbitohs in 2022.
However, most clubs have been reluctant to adopt the dual coaching model, with St George Illawarra’s 1999 pairing of David Waite and Andrew Farrar being co-coaches in name only to appease both sides of the joint venture.
Bennett said he had offered to work alongside whichever coach Brisbane bosses Paul White and Karl Morris wanted as his successor for 12 months if he was re-appointed for a final season but they rejected his succession plan.
“There hasn’t been one since [Bennett and Furner],” he said.
“I tried to do it at the Broncos when I was leaving with whoever they wanted. I told them you choose the coach and I will work with him. Just give me one more year.
“I knew what it did for me and how much it helped to develop me, what Don did. He never interfered with me, he critiqued me and when he thought I could do something better he told me.
“Everything he said he would do for me he delivered. Don was there for me, when I was on the right track he encouraged me and we played in the grand final.”
Failed Raiders coup
However, Bennett revealed that he should never have got his start with the Raiders as McMahon was earmarked to succeed Furner.
McMahon had taken charge of a mid-season match in 1986 while Furner was in New Zealand with the Kangaroos, steering the Raiders to a 38-6 defeat of Western Suburbs at Seiffert Oval.
“Allan McMahon should have been the next coach after Don at Canberra but Don went away with the Australian team and McMahon, who was coaching the reserve grade team that were leading the comp, encouraged the players to have a vote," he said.
"They said they wanted McMahon but there were a couple of other remarkable guys involved with Canberra in Les and John McIntyre. Les created the Raiders and Don had worked with him for 20 years. He was the boss of the Leagues Club that they built.
“They were just not going to roll Don out like that and when Don came home the coup was headlines, so they sacked McMahon and they kept Don on the proviso that he had one more year and he get a young coach with him to take over the Raiders.”
McMahon went on to become the founding coach of Newcastle and is credited for establishing many of the systems that enabled the Knights to enjoy early success, while Bennett spent a year working alongside Furner.
Bennett had coached Brothers and Souths in Brisbane with success and was director of coaching for Queensland Rugby League in 1986.
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With the QRL insisting the State of Origin coach could not also have charge of a club team, Bennett was available and Brothers president Frank Dolan recommended him when contacted by Furner.
“I had a four-year contract, Don was to do one year with me and I was to take over from there,” Bennett said. "Leaving to go to the Broncos was a gut-wrenching decision.
“That was back in 1986 so this stuff has been around for a long time but not too many people have executed it well.”
One hit wonders
The co-coaching concept has proven more popular in soccer, with Steven Ferguson and Stuart Kettlewell now in their second season together with Scottish Premier League club Ross County.
Tottenham appointed Ray Clemence and Doug Livermore as co-managers in 1991, while Liverpool instigated a short lived coaching partnership between Gerard Houllier and Roy Evans in 1998 and Bolton employed Roy McFarland and Colin Todd to work together in 1992.
Rabbitohs react to Demetriou takeover
More recently, Lars Lagerback has enjoyed success at international level in co-coaching relationships with his native Sweden and later Iceland.
He was joint-coach of Sweden with Roland Andersson from 2004-to-2009 and was behind Iceland’s fairy tale rise at the Euro 2016 tournament alongside Heimir Hallgrimsson.
During the 33 years since Bennett and Furner worked together at the Raiders, there have been 18 coaches who lasted no more than two years in their first NRL head coaching assignment and have not had the chance to oversee another team in the Telstra Premiership.
The list includes the foundation coaches of the North Queensland Cowboys (Grant Bell), South Queensland Crushers (Bob Lindner), Western Reds (Peter Mulholland) and Adelaide Rams (Rod Reddy).
The likes of Terry Lamb (Tigers), Paul Langmack (Rabbitohs), Mick Potter (Tigers), Mark Graham and Tony Kemp (both Warriors) also had short-lived careers as head coaches in the Telstra Premiership.