Wayne Bennett AM

As a rugby league player in the early 1970s, Wayne Bennett represented Queensland on the wing and at fullback, before assuming a celebrated career in coaching. He was Queensland Director of Coaching prior to taking on the Canberra Raiders and then in 1988, moving to the Brisbane Broncos, with whom he has been ever since.
Wayne Bennett holds the record as the longest serving coach of the same club in Rugby League. His record for success is just as impressive. Bennett's team, the Brisbane Broncos, has won six Grand Finals from six appearances under his leadership. Wayne Bennett has a reputation that is the envy of coaches from all sporting fields, not just Rugby League.
The Broncos' success in 1997 in winning both the Telstra Cup and the Visa World Club Championship earned Wayne the accolade of "Super League Coach of the Year". 1998 was by far his most successful season in terms of results. With the Broncos home as Super League Premiers, he took Queensland's State of Origin side to an historic 2-1 series victory over New South Wales.
Then, when Australia was down one-nil in the series against New Zealand, he was brought in as coach. Australia clinched the final two tests to secure the Trans-Tasman trophy. He created history that year by becoming the first coach to steer his club, his state and his country to victory in their respective series in a single year, winning the coveted 1998 Queensland Coach of the Year. Poker faced", "deep thinking", and "big hearted" are some of the descriptions commonly applied to him. League is a brutal business, but Wayne Bennett is regarded as personifying some of the old fashioned virtues that are supposed to have disappeared from the game.
The winner of six NRL premierships, Wayne Bennett took up the role of assistant to the much less experienced Kearney during the Kiwis' stunning 2008 World Cup triumph. Their respective roles were the source of plenty of speculation before and during the tournament, which ended with New Zealand's shock 34-20 victory over raging favourites Australia.
Wayne Bennett, who has now taken up the reins at St George Illawarra after 21 seasons at the Broncos, will have an exciting new challenge ahead of him which I’m sure he will relish.
Wayne is one of Australia's most successful, influential and innovative sports coaches who presents as a brilliant motivational speaker or inspirational speaker on his best in achievement and performance.