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Bennett and Inglis conjuring up story for the ages

There is a great story unfolding at South Sydney with Wayne Bennett and Greg Inglis together for the first time at club level.

Wayne is coaching one of the all-time greats in GI, and he gets to coach one of the most famous clubs in the South Sydney Rabbitohs.

I know Wayne well and he will be sitting back thinking "this is going to make a great story when we win the grand final".

I've noted some of the comments GI has made about Wayne coming on board and you get the sense that he's in awe of the new coach. GI isn't awestruck by too many people, but Wayne has that way about him. You don't fear him as a person so much but you do fear displeasing him.

You see the way GI holds himself. He is like a demigod with the way he walks around at Redfern. He has that stature.

Wayne is like Zeus. He is right at the top of the tree in the demigod stakes with what he has achieved in the game and has probably gone in there and put a bit of fear in GI, and I think that is a good thing.

GI will want to keep the coach happy by being at his best as a captain and a player. Like all the greats he will set himself this season to take his game up another notch.

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That won't be easy with some of the knee issues he's had of late but I'm sure he is up to the challenge. It will refocus him.

GI, and you could say the same for all players, would have always wanted to be coached by the best and you could argue that this year he is going to be coached by the best of all time.

GI has come through his drink-driving charge from last year and owned that mistake. He has talked a lot over the years about the demons in his head and I know first-hand that Wayne is going to help him with that.

We've seen how Wayne was so good for Darius Boyd when he was struggling. Darius came through all that with flying colours to become a Broncos club legend and I believe Wayne will also help GI just with chit-chat. That is going to be such a boost for Souths' captain and number one player.

That fit between the captain and coach makes it even more exciting to me for Souths, and they are going to be a lot better than even I thought with Wayne and GI together.

In the background you have to think about all the things that have just happened in Brisbane. There was a virtual swap with Wayne and Anthony Seibold. I know Wayne. That is playing on his mind. He will want to go one better than Anthony.

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He will think to himself, "I want this team to win a premiership this year because Anthony didn't win one", and that's OK. That is what drives these competitive coaches. Anthony took his job at his beloved Broncos so he'll be thinking "let's see where we both finish". Wayne will be keeping a close eye on that.

Wayne will enjoy working with the team he has got at the Rabbitohs. He's got seasoned campaigners like the Burgess brothers and premiership winners Adam Reynolds and John Sutton.

Wayne Bennett at Rabbitohs training.
Wayne Bennett at Rabbitohs training. ©rabbitohs.com.au

Anthony is at the other end of the scale at the Broncos where he has this group of young players and just a few seniors to mould together.

At the Dragons in 2010 there were old hands like Dean Young, Ben Hornby and Mark Gasnier so I see so many similarities for Wayne at Souths. The Red V has all that history attached to it and there is no more famous club than South Sydney.

Imagine if Wayne took the Rabbitohs to a title in his first year. You'd be a fool to count it out. With GI by his side it would be a storyline to cap two great careers in the most memorable way possible.

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