Wayne Bennett didn’t give too much to reporters in a press conference that was everything you would expect from the Rabbitohs head coach after Alex Johnston’s special night.
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While Johnston revealed a touching message from Bennett to Fox League post-game, the South Sydney coach — at least in public — wasn’t in much of a mood to dwell on the moment.
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“I have said a fair bit about it,” Bennett replied when asked off the top to speak to his emotions after Johnston, who he had played such a big role in coaching, became the NRL’s all-time top try-scorer.
“And I hate repeating myself. Let’s move on.”
But it was clear given the gravity of the moment that everyone else in the room wasn’t prepared to do just that.
“Move on?” the journalist replied.
“Well, I was at a press conference yesterday and we got asked a thousand questions about him which I answered,” Bennett said.
“We all know how special it is, we all know how special he is.”
As for the fans not listening to his message against running onto the field, Wayne hilariously replied: “No, they didn’t. It sounds like my players”.
The press conference then continued as expected as Fox League’s Lara Pitt asked Bennett what it looked like from the coach’s box seeing everything unfold.
“What?” Bennett replied. “The try?”
“All of it,” was Pitt’s answer, to which Bennett called it “pretty disruptive”.
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“We were out there trying to win a game of football. We were all out there trying our hearts out and all of a sudden it stops and breaks all the momentum.
“It had to happen. It was how it happened after that we had no control over but the point is that I’ve coached nearly a thousand games and that hasn’t happened before… but it’s a pretty special time so.”
In Bennett’s defence, he was asked plenty about the milestone and Johnston as a player and person earlier in the week, including what has made him such a prolific try-scorer.
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“If you look at Ken Irvine, he’s pretty similar to him,” Bennett said at the time.
“They’re not big guys… they just get there with skill and guile and great anticipation and a feel for the game. Some of the tries that Alex has scored, if you put other wingers in that position, they wouldn’t score those tries because they just don’t have the feel that he has to come onto the ball… and then get himself into the corner.”
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