How good was it to have Wayne Bennett back on Sunday?

Well, maybe not for everyone. Roosters coach Trent Robinson and his players were looking a little shell shocked after Bennett’s triumphant return to Suncorp Stadium and there was at least one member of the rugby league media wishing he’d stayed home for the day, but other than that it was smiles all round.

After 12 months cooling his heels on the sidelines, the old fox burst back onto the scene with a vengeance. The debut performance of his Dolphins was classic Bennett – and so was the media conference that followed.

No-one loves the big occasions more than Bennett, and no-one handles them better. We’ve seen it time and time again.

Whether it is taking his club sides to against-the-odds wins or masterminding Origin victories after the Maroons were written off in the press, Bennett has made an art-form of proving the critics wrong.

The Dolphins’ 28-18 win over the Roosters was one of his best, and the Wayne Bennett Show didn’t end with the fulltime whistle. Wayne was just warming up.

The media conference started friendly enough, with the adoring press eating out of his hand, and then, as if someone had flicked a switch, he turned from kindly Uncle Benny to mean old Coach Grumpy. Asked an innocuous question by a reporter from The Courier-Mail, Bennett refused to answer, voiced his disapproval over the journo not having ‘the decency’ to contact him before writing a negative story during the pre-season trials, and finished with the words, ‘You can’t just give it and not take it’.

It was a masterclass in handling the media. In a few sharp words Bennett had sent out a message, loud and clear: I might have been out of the spotlight for a little while, but don’t think anything has changed. These are the rules: I’m still the boss. Do the right thing by me and we’ll all get along fine. Cross me, and it’s going to be a very long, cold season.’

On Sunday Wayne Bennett showed us all what we’ve been missing for the past year, and he’s just getting started. You get the feeling he circled two very important dates on his calendar the day that the NRL draw was released.

The first was last Sunday.

The second is Friday March 24, when the Dolphins run onto Suncorp Stadium to take on the Broncos, the club that sacked him in 2018.

Not everyone is a Wayne Bennett fan, but there’s one thing nobody can deny: he has a long memory.

He doesn’t forget and he doesn’t forgive.

Just ask that reporter from The Courier-Mail.