Dawn of the recruits: Why age was no barrier for Bennett

Dolphins coach Wayne Bennett and recruitment guru Peter O’Sullivan are in a room alongside CEO Terry Reader going through potential signings targets for 2023.

Bennett has drawn up a wish list that includes the likes of Ray Stone, Jesse Bromwich, Eels co-captain Junior Paulo and Rabbitohs prop Liam Knight.

O’Sullivan notifies him that both Bromwich brothers and Felise Kaufusi are all free agents.

It’s news to Bennett.

“Are they all off in ‘22?,” he asked.

O’Sullivan nods and suddenly Bennett is animated.

“There’s some upside and downside to that though… the downside is you’ll get some backlash straight away [because of their age],” O’Sullivan responded.

Bennett, as witty as ever, fired back.

“Peter, we’re going to get that anyway. I tell you, that’s got a bit of appeal to me.”

Stan Original’s 'Dawn of the Dolphins' was released on Monday following the new franchise’s history-breaking win over the Roosters at Suncorp Stadium.

The timing of the release couldn’t have been more perfect with Bennett, O’Sullivan and Reader giving a fascinating insight into building the NRL team from scratch.

“They bring a lot of things, they bring a winning attitude. If you’ve got those three guys sitting there in the team you’ve got yourself a forward pack,” Bennett continues.

O’Sullivan, as professional as ever and real about the situation, gives Bennett another risk factor.

“We have to be careful… Jesse is going to be 33 at that stage,” he said.

“That’s ok,” Bennett responds.

“If we run Jesse out for 20 minutes I’m happy mate. Because he knows how to start a game and we’ve got a kid who will be the future running out after him. That shit works.

“If you buy Jesse for two years that’s good value for us.

“Do not turn him away from that. I’m telling you, it’s going to [help us]… I like it.”

The Dolphins had all three players signed before a ball was kicked last year with Kaufusi announced as the club’s first signing and Jesse unveiled as captain last month.

Kaufusi delivered a man-of-the-match performance on Sunday to win the inaugural Arthur Beetson legacy medal.

It’s early days, but so far the signings have been proven.

“When you put players who may be average around good players, they just go to another level because all they have to worry about is their own game,” Bennett said.

“We can develop that [average] player and that buys us time. That’s my biggest worry… just the time factor.

“Everyone expects us to go well at the beginning but it’s going to be a long journey if we haven’t got quality players.

“That’s my worry if we get too many young players here, we’ll be overexposed. They’ll last six games and go out the back door.”

O’Sullivan explains the importance of roster management.

“Minimising mistakes in your roster now is huge,” he said.

“You really pay for your errors in a roster. It’s very hard to move players. In the older days you could shuffle money a little bit here or there but you wear your mistakes now.

“Teams who do that can struggle for 5-6 years. We had to be careful we didn’t go down that path.”

Bennett is also asked about Kalyn Ponga in the documentary, to which he replies, “I’m not confident about Ponga playing five-eighth. I don’t think he’ll want to.”

The Dolphins will meet the Knights in Round 3 after Ponga rejected Bennett in the off-season to re-sign with Newcastle and confirm his move to the halves permanently.

On Tino Fa'asuamaleaui, who could be a potential target for the Dolphins in 2025 with player options set for his final two years at the Titans, Bennett said he tried to get him at the Broncos as a teenager before coaching him at State of Origin in 2020.

“He was wonderful, very good… he’s worth the money,” Bennett said.