Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett has revealed he “didn’t have any confidence” Cameron Munster would ultimately sign with the NRL’s newest franchise and criticised the Storm superstar for not personally informing him of his decision.
The 28-year-old rejected the Dolphins’ four-year $5.6 million offer to re-sign with the Storm on a four-year $4 million-dollar deal.
As it stands the Dolphins are yet to sign a marquee player after missing out on an extensive list of superstars including Harry Grant, Jahrome Hughes, Reece Walsh and Kalyn Ponga.
While Bennett himself was resigned to the fact Munster wouldn’t be making the move north, the super coach lamented the Maroons gun for avoiding the “tough phone call”.
“It is pretty ordinary stuff mate, it is pretty ordinary stuff, that’s the part, I understand managers and all that, and there is a need for them,” Bennett said on Triple M’s Rush Hour with Leisel Jones, Liam and Dobbo.
“But what I can’t get and what I don’t relate to is the fact that the players, in all the tough conversations that have got to be had, are missing.
“They don’t ring you up and tell you they are not coming, they don’t have to make that phone call, that is a tough phone call, it’s a phone call none of us want to make but you want to be a man, you have got to behave like one.
“Don’t have your manager ring up and tell them you aren’t coming.”
Bennett, who has won seven premierships as a coach, likened the situation to his own experiences as a child when he would get his mum to call his friends for him.
“I think they miss out on a very important learning phase in their life, how to say no and how to say no by you saying no, decently,” Bennett said.
“Not having someone else go ‘here I’ll message for you’.
“I remember I got my mother to ring up my little friend when I wanted to go to the football… I didn’t have the courage to ring up and ask him could I go, I’d get my mother and I hated myself for it.
“I taught myself not to ask my mother anymore for it because I knew I should have been doing it, if I was the one that wanted to go.
“It is tough telling someone you aren’t going to come when there is a lot of effort, but that’s the price you have got to pay so you can grow into the man that you can be proud of.”
Bennett revealed he was confident of recruiting Munster when conversations began, but as the negotiations became “drawn out” he knew the Melbourne gun would re-sign.
Bennett and Munster worked together during the Maroons’ 2020 Origin series win — but that clearly wasn’t enough to snub Craig Bellamy’s final season at the helm.
While Dolphins fans were desperate to acquire a marquee star, Bennett is still remaining calm and will wait for the right player before handing out a lucrative contract.
“What it has done is left us with a lot of money in the salary cap to go out and buy quality players, and we will not spend that money until we get that player,” Bennett said.
“The opportunity has gone there, we will go somewhere else and seek that player that we know we need and most important not waste the money.
“I’ll play with one less next year to make sure we get the right player for 2024, I am not going to go out and spend that money now on someone we don’t think can deliver what we need.”
The NRL has been consistently criticised for its handling of the introduction of the new franchise.
Pundits believe the Dolphins have a major disadvantage to their rivals and should have been afforded extra time or be exempt from recruiting rules in order to build a competition roster.
Bennett clearly agrees but knows the other 16 clubs in the competition are not welcoming of a new rival.
“The NRL did the right thing by creating a 17th team, we all knew what the rules were, if we didn’t like the rules we didn’t have to make an application to be admitted to the competition,” Bennett said.
“The other 16 teams don’t want you, is that clear, they don’t want you because they are about their possession, their little bit of turf, and a 17th team is an inconvenience because they are going to lose a few more players.
“What the game has never done is supported a new team coming in, in terms of recruitment or whatever.
“Broncos, Gold Coast when they first came in, Newcastle, a whole lot have never been supported by the game with players.
“I honestly believe the game should, as the AFL does, when the two new teams came in, Western Sydney and the Gold Coast, each club had to give up one or two players to make it more viable.
“It has never happened in our game, it is not going to happen now, but we new the rules, we just get on with life and we are going to do our best to prove them all wrong.”
