Fox Sports Lab: A look behind the remarkable numbers of Wayne Bennett’s 900 games

No other coach comes close to that milestone. Only three others have surpassed 500 matches – Tim Sheens, Brian Smith and Craig Bellamy. Bennett is the only one who has more than 700.

Dating back to his first season in charge at Canberra in the 1987 NSWRL season – when now-Bulldogs coach Cameron Ciraldo was only three years old – the super coach has maintained an incredible legacy of success, one that continues to grow after the Dolphins’ surprise start to life in the NRL.

He’s synonymous with rugby league. Bennett has been in charge of more than six per cent of all first grade rugby league games played since 1908.

Thanks to Fox Sports Lab, here are some of the remarkable statistics and records behind Bennett’s illustrious 36 seasons as an NRL coach.

Safe pair of hands

Recruiting Bennett almost guarantees a certain level of success. Yet the longevity of his ability to get the best out of teams is unparalleled.

In 35 completed seasons, Bennett has only missed the finals on five occasions. Three of those were during the first five years of his career.

Every year between 1992 and 2011, Bennett-coached teams made an appearance in the finals.

In his 30 finals appearances, Bennett has made the grand final on 10 occasions – winning seven times. No coach has more in either category.

He has also only had four seasons in his history where he has finished with a win percentage below 50. The first time that occurred was in 2003 with the Broncos, his 17th year as a coach.

Building a Brisbane legacy

Despite finishing with a positive win percentage in each of his first four seasons at the Broncos, Bennett only made the finals once due to the top five NSWRL system.

For a team trying to assert itself in a new competition, they may have demanded more. But sticking with Bennett paid dividends, as he won the competition in 1992 and 1993.

The period between 1992 and 2000 was Bennett’s most successful stretch as a head coach.

He won the competition five times, had seven seasons with a winning percentage of more than 70 and on average, his teams scored 25.33 points per game while conceding only 14.54.

The Broncos finished with six titles in total during Bennett’s reign, the last of which came in 2006. They have not won a competition since.

In total, Bennett took charge of Brisbane for 631 games, winning 402 (63.7 per cent) – a record unlikely to be beaten anytime soon.

How Bellamy became the ‘bogey’

Bennett has a winning record against most other coaches.

There are a handful of high-profile coaches that can lay claim to dominating Bennett, no one quite comes close to Craig Bellamy and the Melbourne Storm.

Bellamy and Bennett have come up against each other on 39 occasions. Bellamy has won 29 of those fixtures (74 per cent).

Many of those results are on the back of Melbourne’s defensive efforts. Of any coach he has come up against five or more times, Bennett’s tally of 14.8 points per game on average against Bellamy is the lowest.

It’s not just Bellamy however. Of the 27 first grade sides Bennett has faced, he has the lowest winning percentage against the Storm (29.2 per cent). Similarly, it’s also the side Bennett-coached teams average the fewest points against per game (16.4).

One thing that is still in Bennett’s favour – he has won more first grade games (562) than Bellamy has coached (533).

Defence and the Dragons

Bennett leaving the Broncos for the Dragons ahead of the 2009 season was a big deal.

He made the finals every year of his three-year stint at the club and won the premiership in 2010 – on the back of defence.

In his 79 games in charge, the Dragons conceded on average just 13.6 points per match. The year they won the premiership, in 2010, their average was 11.8 for the season – the lowest mark of any of Bennett’s 35 seasons.

Struggles in the Hunter

It’s no secret Bennett’s most difficult period in his career was during his three years at the Newcastle Knights (2012-2014).

Since 1992, Bennett has only missed the finals twice. Both of those years were while he was at the Knights.

It’s the only team he had a win percentage under 50 per cent (45.3).

The one year Bennett did make the finals with Newcastle, they punched well above their weight. Finishing in seventh, the Knights defeated the Bulldogs and Storm, both away from home, before falling to eventual premiers the Roosters in the preliminary final.

Old rabbit, new tricks

If Bennett’s time at the Dragons was about defensive acumen, his stint at the Rabbitohs was all about attacking flair.

With a litany of talented backs at his disposal, Bennett created a free-scoring team that regularly piled on the points.

In 77 matches at South Sydney, the side averaged 26.4 points per game, his best record at any team.

In the 2021 season where they had an incredible run to the grand final, the Rabbitohs averaged 31.1 points per game. That was his most productive scoring season of his career, finishing with 839 points across 27 matches.

Not all Wayne’s way

Several unexpected coaches can say they have a winning record against Wayne Bennett.

There are three coaches he has never defeated – his former protege Jason Demetriou, Steve Price and Bill Anderson.

Besides Craig Bellamy, Dave Furner (six wins from eight matches) is the other coach with the strongest record against Bennett.

Others who have a better than 60 per cent win ratio against Bennett include Geoff Toovey, Nathan Brown, Mal Meninga and Anthony Griffin.

The Bennett bunch

Across his career, Bennett has coached 378 players in first grade. Thirty-one of those players only appeared in one game for the super coach.

However, on the other end of the spectrum, two players stand out as having stuck particularly close to Bennett.

Darius Boyd followed Bennett from the Broncos to the Dragons, to Newcastle and then back to Brisbane.

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In total, Bennett coached Boyd in 292 of his 337 NRL matches. That also means Boyd has been involved in 32 per cent of all of Bennett’s matches.

He shares that number with Brisbane legend Darren Lockyer. Lockyer spent all his time in Brisbane since his debut in 1995. Bennett coached Locky for 292 of his 355 matches – the partnership only ended when the coach moved to the Dragons in 2009.

Five other players appeared in more than 250 matches under Bennett: Michael Hancock (274); Kevin Walters (264); Allan Langer (258); Andrew Gee (255) and; Shane Webcke (254).