{"id":291865,"date":"2023-09-09T06:03:54","date_gmt":"2023-09-09T06:03:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=291865"},"modified":"2023-09-09T06:03:54","modified_gmt":"2023-09-09T06:03:54","slug":"i-still-havent-forgiven-him-why-wayne-bennett-wont-move-on-after-devastating-tackle-on-mckinnon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/rugby-league\/i-still-havent-forgiven-him-why-wayne-bennett-wont-move-on-after-devastating-tackle-on-mckinnon\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I still haven\u2019t forgiven him\u2019: Why Wayne Bennett won\u2019t move on after devastating tackle on McKinnon"},"content":{"rendered":"

By <\/span>Andrew Webster<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Save articles for later<\/h3>\n

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.<\/p>\n

It was close to midnight on Monday, 24 March 2014, when Wayne Bennett sat on the back seat of the Knights bus and wept in Willie Mason\u2019s arms. \u201cIt was like watching your dad cry,\u201d Mason recalls.<\/p>\n

The bus was parked outside the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, where, inside its intensive care unit, Knights backrower Alex McKinnon had been placed in an induced coma. Earlier that night, in the dying seconds of the first half against the Storm at AAMI Park, he ran the ball at the defensive line as he\u2019d done countless times before, but the tackle went terribly wrong. Storm prop Jordan McLean had McKinnon by the legs but, as he drove forward, the tackle collapsed under the weight of brothers Jesse and Kenny Bromwich, breaking his neck.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Alex McKinnon and Wayne Bennettat a press conference for the Rise forAlex Round in 2014. <\/span>Credit: <\/span>Kate Geraghty<\/cite><\/p>\n

After the match, which Melbourne won 28-20, Bennett asked for the team bus to go directly to the hospital. Bennett wanted to see McKinnon \u2013 he wanted his entire side to see him \u2013 but only the coach was allowed in. \u201cWhen I came out, I was heartbroken,\u201d Bennett says.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s when he made his way towards the back seat of the team bus. The back seat has long been a sanctuary for Bennett. That\u2019s where the larrikins sit. That\u2019s where the laughs come from. But when he found Mason on this night, and the enormity of what had just happened sank in, they cried in each other\u2019s arms.<\/p>\n

When the other players noticed that Bennett was crying, it triggered tears in them too. \u201cWayne\u2019s the Don, the Godfather, the King,\u201d Mason says. \u201cIf he\u2019s rattled, we\u2019re rattled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bennett was<\/em> rattled, but he was only prepared to give his players a brief look at his vulnerability. \u201cIt\u2019s the most traumatic thing that\u2019s ever happened to me outside of my own family,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I had to pull myself together because those players needed me.\u201d<\/p>\n

About 4am, after the players had gone to bed, Bennett was in his hotel room, processing what had just happened. \u201cI thought, \u2018You\u2019re a cold-hearted bastard, you should be more upset than you are\u2019,\u201d he says. \u201cTwenty-four hours later I realised I was in that place because I had to be in that place. I couldn\u2019t let them see me being weak.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a difference between weakness and vulnerability, and Bennett had shown the latter to McKinnon that Monday night when their paths briefly crossed in the AAMI Park tunnel at halftime. They didn\u2019t utter a word. They didn\u2019t have to.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Knights players huddle as medical staff attend to Alex McKinnon at AAMI Park on March 24, 2014.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n

\u201cHe looked at me, I looked at him, and we just went f—,\u201d McKinnon recalls about their reaction to his injury. \u201cThen he moved on with the job at hand. When he\u2019s soft, you can feel him. When he shows that empathy, you can really feel it. Because he\u2019s such a hard man, and doesn\u2019t show emotion, you can really feel it when he softens. This will sound weird, but Wayne was the one person I wanted to see. Because I felt like I\u2019d let him down. He flew down a few days after the surgery and he just sat with me for an hour. It was very peaceful. I loved it. It was so nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

In all his years of coaching, Bennett had never been confronted with a situation like this. When specialists confirmed the tackle had left McKinnon a quadriplegic, Bennett discussed with his players the idea of pulling out of their next match against Cronulla. \u201cIt was the only time in my life that I didn\u2019t want to coach,\u201d he recalls. But they played, and the Knights won 30-0.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Wayne Bennett attempts to focus his troops after the emotion of Rise for Alex Round in Newcastle.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n

Over the next few months, though, Bennett had to coach a team, be there for McKinnon, and handle his own emotions as the wider rugby league community rallied around McKinnon and the club. The Knights won just two of their next ten matches as the coach did all he could to keep them together. The Rise for Alex Round was held at Hunter Stadium in July and it was emotional for all involved. McKinnon came out into the middle of the ground and the 26,000-strong crowd chanted his name. Alex! Alex! Alex!<\/em><\/p>\n

Emotion\u2019s a strange beast for a football team. With just the right amount, a team can achieve amazing things. Too much and players can lose focus. As Bennett made his way to the coach\u2019s box that afternoon, he knew his side couldn\u2019t win. \u201cWe all went on the field with him \u2013 I have no idea why the f— I let that happen,\u201d he says. \u201cI suppose it was out of respect to him. But I should\u2019ve realised. How can you have your teammate in the middle of the field, then you have to play footy? I still can\u2019t believe I let that happen. It impacted on our team, our performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the years since the events of Monday, 24 March 2014, McKinnon has managed to let much of his anger around that tackle go: towards the Storm and Jordan McLean, who received a seven-match ban from the NRL judiciary. Bennett has not.<\/p>\n

\u201cDeep down, in my heart, I still haven\u2019t forgiven the player,\u201d he says of McLean. \u201cI\u2019ve got on with life, shut my mouth about it. But those things, when you\u2019re a player, you know what you\u2019re doing. Have I put someone in that position before as a player? Yes, I have. It was a time when we didn\u2019t know as much as we do now, it was a time when you got away with that shit. But I think in modern society we\u2019re more aware of what we\u2019re doing when we put people in a dangerous position. Alex has been wonderful. He knew from that moment that he needed to be stronger than anyone else. A young man, 22 years of age, a life-changing moment, but he knows he has to be braver than all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Knights players line up with Alex McKinnon (left) before the Rise for Alex Round in 2014.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n

When I tell McKinnon about Bennett crying in Mason\u2019s arms on the back seat of the bus that evening, he isn\u2019t surprised. \u201cAfter I got injured, we started to chat as friends,\u201d he says. \u201cHe wasn\u2019t my coach anymore and he wouldn\u2019t be again. He protects his vulnerability. He knows how powerful it is. He puts on masks for what needs to be done.\u201d<\/p>\n

McKinnon\u2019s injury was a tragedy in a season when nothing went right for the Knights but the development that changed everything was Nathan Tinkler\u2019s plummeting fortune and his inability to service the Knights.<\/p>\n

For months, he had ducked and weaved the NRL and club members before the licence was finally revoked in May. When the NRL took control of the club on a caretaker basis, officials were perplexed when they couldn\u2019t find any record of Bennett\u2019s contract. They assumed he was being paid directly by Tinkler.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they went broke, we had to re-sign our contracts,\u201d Bennett says. \u201cThat made me a free agent. I signed until the end of the year. Didn\u2019t stay for the fourth. It was my decision. It was my choice because he\u2019d gone broke.\u201d<\/p>\n

On 9 July, Bennett announced he was leaving at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

Bennett was immediately linked to the Dragons, which wasn\u2019t surprising because he\u2019d been speaking to chief executive Peter Doust for weeks, although Bennett had been agitating for a return to Brisbane long before he quit the Knights. A Broncos source tells me he had reached out to Lachlan Murdoch at the end of 2013, despite having two years to run on his Knights deal.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Fans rally around Alex McKinnon following his horror injury.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty<\/cite><\/p>\n

If anyone knows the value of keeping your options open, it\u2019s Bennett. It came to a head on the weekend of 19-20 July \u2013 the same time as the Rise for Alex Round. As Bennett grappled with the emotion of that match, he also happened to be manoeuvring himself into this next job.<\/p>\n

On Friday, 18 July, I wrote a column for The Sydney Morning Herald<\/em> saying the \u201csecond coming of Saint Benny was almost complete\u201d. The source was close to the board and adamant a deal was imminent. All that was needed was Bennett\u2019s signature.<\/p>\n

Doust confirms he met with Bennett in the Sydney office of leading player agent George Mimis, who negotiates the final details of Bennett\u2019s contracts, that week. \u201cWayne does his own negotiations,\u201d Doust says. \u201cGeorge does the detail. We went through what we were doing with staff and rosters.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next morning, Doust was preparing to meet his board to deliver the good news. He\u2019d also told the club\u2019s media department to prepare a statement announcing the development. That Saturday morning, Herald<\/em> journalist Roy Masters heard whispers that Bennett was poised to sign with the Broncos. He phoned Doust to let him know.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he\u2019s done a deal with Brisbane,\u201d Masters told Doust.<\/p>\n

Doust was stunned and called Bennett in a panic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not coming,\u201d Bennett said.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Wolf You Feed by Andrew Webster.<\/span><\/p>\n

According to Bennett, he changed his mind after receiving a series of phone calls while driving along the M1 Motorway on his way to Kogarah to sign the Dragons contract. The first two were from Broncos players Sam Thaiday and Justin Hodges, both saying words to the effect: \u201cCoach, you have to come back and save us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next call was with [Brisbane chairman] Dennis Watt, who said the Broncos were offering him the job and that Watt had been authorised by Lachlan Murdoch himself to do so. Bennett stopped the car and called Murdoch to cement the deal.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the Broncos announced Bennett\u2019s return and Anthony Griffin\u2019s exit at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe $64,000 question is, why did Wayne talk to Lachlan at a late stage?\u201d Doust asks. \u201cWhether it was him calling Lachlan or Lachlan calling him, I\u2019m not sure. I\u2019ve never heard of Sam Thaiday being in the middle of it. Someone got to him. I was devastated again \u2013 we all were. He\u2019s devastated us a couple of times. But it pales into insignificance when compared to what he did for us as a club.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Wolf You Feed by Andrew Webster (Pan Macmillan Australia, $37) is out September 12.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Stream the NRL Premiership 2023 live and free on <\/b>9Now<\/b>. <\/b><\/p>\n

Sports news, results and expert commentary. <\/i><\/b>Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/i><\/b>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

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