We might be only eight matches into 2023, but the buzz phrase for the season has already been locked in stone – “Wayne Bennett coached team”. We’ve heard it and read it so many times that it has almost become one word.

“This is typical play from a Waynebennettcoachedteam”, “That’s just what you’d expect from a Waynebennettcoachedteam”, “That try-line defense has got Waynebennettcoachedteam written all over it”. During the Dolphins’ incredible comeback from 26-nil down against the Titans at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday, the Waynebennettcoachedteam cliches were flying around the media boxes like confetti.

Which is not say that deference to Bennett’s coaching skills isn’t warranted, but I think that is only part of the story when it comes to the massive impact that the Dolphins have made on the game in their brief NRL existence. Perhaps there should be another buzz phrase doing the rounds – “Wayne Bennett chosen team”.
As Bennett built the Dolphins’ NRL squad from the ground up during 2022, there was growing criticism of his inability to sign a “marquee player”. The question was asked by at least one media pundit, “Has the old bloke lost his aura?”, the inference being that, at the age of 73, Bennett no longer had the pulling power to attract star players on his past reputation alone. The players he did sign, the critics said, were either too old, too young, or not good enough.

Through it all, Bennett remained calm. He said that he was pleased with the way things were coming together. Not too many people who lived outside Redcliffe believed him, but as so often in his career, he knew exactly what he was doing.

Bennett wasn’t signing players with big scrapbooks who wanted to be told how good they are. He was looking for something else: character.

Bennett makes no secret that his favorite all-time player is Allan Langer, but there was another player at the Broncos who holds a special place in his heart. Mick De Vere, whose career was going nowhere and who wrote Bennett a letter asking to be given a chance. Bennett offered him an incentive contract and he ended up playing 161 games for the club, won two premierships and represented NSW and Australia. De Vere wasn’t a superstar, but Bennett only had to read that letter to see something that no-one else could.

At Souths, Bennett had plenty of stars, like Latrell Mitchell, Cody Walker and Adam Reynolds, but the one who epitomised everything he likes in a player was no-fuss, big-hearted forward Mark Nicholls. It was no surprise that Nicholls was one of the first players Bennett signed at the Dolphins. Just as it was no surprise to see Nicholls charge over for the first try of the side’s second-half demolition of the Titans on Sunday.

Bennett has built a club from scratch before of course. He knows that character outpoints charisma every time; that sometimes a player has an extra something inside him that just needs unlocking. That a winning team is a team that never accepts that it is beaten, and that if you keep trying until the final whistle you’ll win more than you lose.

We saw all that and more from the Dolphins at Suncorp Stadium on Sunday afternoon – but what else would you expect from a Waynebennettcoachedteam?