And Ratchford.

And Bateman in the centres

no he is not, not even close.

Do you really think he’s better than a four time GF winning coach?

Bennet, for good reason is generally considered the best coach in the game. His record speaks for itself. Fans, including myself may not agree with all his decisions however I don’t see how this can be anything but a good thing.

Would sooner have McDermott, I think Powell really struggles when he gets to the business end of the season or a big game situation.

The last time an English/British coach came so close to winning a world cup was in 1992 IIRC where we lost 10-6 in the final. For me Bennett deserves another shot and i'm happy he's stayed on as coach. We may not like some of his selections but it was those selections that got us as far as we did.

This is why I said on the previous page that past success should be a requirement. If he hasn't yet been able to show he can win or even play well in the biggest of games at club level then how's he going to do facing Australia in a WC Final or test match???

As for Bennett I wouldn't mind him continuing if he left his club role (which he won't do). If he could get that close whilst having the distraction of a club to coach imagine what he could've done if he dedicated himself to the role full time and spent quality time over here watching and in contact with the players more closely.

It seems Bennett has needed convincing to continue to be coach having read a few articals.
Having a job like this should be an honour and shouldn't need much thinking about.
Makes me wonder how much his heart and passion is in the job. Hopefully he won't have a change of heart before the next World Cup... buildings toward it from now is vital if we are to take the next step and win it.

I thought that was down to the referee in the semi-final

Why should Bennett be full time? Its quite simply not a full time role. I'd like him to take more of an interest in SL himself so he can make his own decisions on the squad, but realistically even if he did that the squad that went to the WC wouldn't have been much different to what it was. What we really need is more quality players. We have one half decent halfback who ended up playing fullback to cover a gap, and only one centre Bennett rates.

Made too many errors that in the end would have been the difference between winning the WC in over 40 years and not. Didn't take the strongest squad with some glaring omissions, didn't play the best players that we did have (or in the case of Taylor didn't even get a proper shout) and some not even in the correct positions to the point it nulllified one of our most potent attacking threats
For the most part we were boring as fook too.
It's a poor and short sighted selection, no doubt he had a bigger wedge thrown at him to persuade him to carry on.

Still, 200% better than SM, people keep saying that SM did this and that, no he didn't, that was others elsewhere, he was gash and wasted a great opportunity with players at their peak - Burgess, Graham,(who has faded IMHO) Lockers and a few others whom aren't as good now as they were under SM.