KICKOFF: Mastercoach never used to be that Wayne

Some are funny, some less so and some we'll never speak of again. Your columnist did have a giggle at one that lobbed in our inbox recently. 'Blindfolded boxing in water' (google it) is a clip of two blokes in knee-deep water who don the boxing gloves while blindfolded.

They answer the bell and what follows is a hilarious 36 furious seconds of two blokes swinging for the fences and hitting nothing. The longer the video goes, the more they drifted away from their intended target.

They're in full-on attack mode because, being blindfolded, attack is their only means of defence. That video came to mind watching Wayne Bennett addressing 'Grappa-gate' with the media last week.

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Quite rightfully, the story got plenty of oxygen. It's what you'd expect when the game's most senior, and formerly-revered, figure so blatantly flouts the rules put in place to protect both his own livelihood and that of people way below his pay grade (which is most people).

The press conference was classic Wayne, dismissive, superior, vague, contradictory - 'I'm confident I know the rules' to 'I didn't know it was a breach'.

He finished with "I'm allowed to eat aren't I?" as if anyone there had suggested he couldn't - though not all of us can afford to lunch at a place so fancy it refers to itself as a 'Ristorante' and the cheapest pasta on the menu is 29 bucks. Personally, Kickoff would probably prefer the kebab he mentioned.

It was only a week or so after he declared people struggling with the protocols could retire and do something else (he said it not us). The $20,000 fine was certainly on the low side. It seems particularly that given the hefty ones handed out to Latrell Mitchell, Josh Addo-Carr and Nathan Cleary before the protocols were in place.

Most of it's been said really, the game will move on quickly. The overwhelming emotion, though, is one of sadness, sadness at watching the greatest coach in our game's history reduced almost to a caricature of himself.

Bennett was always a figure who transcended the game. His reach extended far beyond rugby league. Through him, we could aspire to being more than just a game. Those philosophies were well fleshed out in his best-selling books 'Don't Die with the Music in You' and 'Man in the Mirror'.

The title of the latter has not been lost on observers in recent years. Certainly that story now has no shortage of hand-shake deals to coach various clubs that have been reneged upon.

If you want to go back and look for where he really started to run contrary to that image, you can probably trace it to Matt Lodge's return to the game.

Recalling it now, it seemed the penny dropped for all of us there and prompted us to ask: what does the game really stand for? It wasn't so much giving Lodge a second chance, it was how Bennett and the Broncos seemed determined to rub people's noses in it.

To hear the man who was once genuinely regarded as the gate keeper of the game's integrity say Lodge was signed simply "because he's a good footballer," in complete disregard of what had occurred, stung.

It's a stark contrast, for example, to Trent Robinson's answer when asked about whether the Roosters were interested in signing soon-to-be-sacked Bronco Tevita Pangai on Wednesday.

"He won't be at the Roosters. We've worked really hard for the type of player that we want and he's not going to fit that mould," Robinson said.

In hindsight, it now looks like the Lodge saga is where the decline of the once mighty Broncos brand began. It's a decline Bennett, the man who more than any other person built that brand, seems to be taking great pleasure in.

It's given him the look of the deposed Prime Minister who shifts to the backbench vowing not be a 'wrecker' but proving just that with the help of favoured media allies.

There was also a clear shift in how rival coaches spoke on the issue last week. None came off the long run, but they certainly spoke with a frankness they hadn't on Bennett before.

Even Ben Ikin felt compelled to break his previous stedfast and dignified silence on matters concerning his father-in-law to condemn the arrogance and hypocrisy of it.

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The reverence in which Bennett was held would have prompted most to stay silent in the past, but not anymore. He is still held in that esteem by his players and cares much more about their view than the media's - fair enough too.

Whether these latest instances amount to the first signs the game is 'moving past' him remains to be seen. People have been suggesting that for years and he's constantly proven them wrong.

He remains the great manager of men and that has always allowed him to rise above the coming and goings of coaching trends and philosophies. You don't just lose that.

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He's stated a desire to continue coaching beyond his deal with the Rabbitohs and no doubt will have offers and opportunities. It could be the Dragons.

You would wonder if he has the stomach for what will likely be a rebuilding task. With seven premierships to his name - including one with the Dragons - he certainly has moved past that sort of task.

If it's his only option though, he'd probably do it.

What the club would need to be awake to, is that they wouldn't be getting the transcendent figure that arrived at the club in 2009.

Back then, Wayne was still a giant who rose above the day-to-day rugby league mire he now seems obsessed with. These days he's a coach, a very good one, probably the best ever, but just a coach.

He's always said that's the only way he's ever viewed himself, and how he wishes to be judged. He may be finally be getting his wish.