Have to agree with @Daddycool08 on this.
Bennett has done nothing of note with the Knights.
His 2010 premiership with the Dragons came when Manly were decimated by injury, Melbourne were in the middle of their big salary cap drama, and Parramatta (more to the point Jarryd Hayne) simply couldn't sustain the form that had taken them to the 2009 GF. That left the Chooks and a coach in Brian Smith who couldn't win a GF even if the match was fixed. Don't get me wrong, the Dragons od 2010 were a good side with players such as BMoz, Gasnier, Cooper, Scott, Benny's love child, and Soward in career best form, but once Manly and Melbourne were back on song in 2011 the Dragons were nowhere again.
At the Donkeys he did have a virtual SoO or Test team to play with most years, including the first two years where they didn't even make the finals (though admittedly, players like Lewis, Miles, Scott & Conescu were past their best). Just take a look at the `93 GF team. Only 2 of 16 players had not played Origin or a Test match to that point and most were premiership players in `92 (what salary cap?). When you have the likes of Langer, Lazarus, the Walters twins, Renouf, Hancock, Carne, Johns, Gillmeister, and later players like Sailor, Thorn, Tallis, Carroll and Lockyer, you're going to win a few premierships if they stay healthy.
The 1987 Raiders team was full of Qld Origin players as well. Meninga, Belcher, Peter Jackson. Plus they had future Origin players Sam Backo and Steve Walters, plus Kevin Walters on the bench, Brent Todd was a Kiwi international, and waiting in the wings were 4 young kids named Clyde, Daley, Lazarus and Stuart. But we still beat them in the GF 😉
Wayne Bennett is a very good coach, that I don't doubt. But as he has shown with Newcastle, a coach is only as good as they players he has out there on the field. Some coaches get more out of their players than others and he hasn't been able to produce with who he has in the Hunter. Kurt Gidley is no Andrew Johns.
Bennett is regarded as a "Supercoach", but if he didn't have all of those Origin and Test players at his disposal, would he have won as many premierships as he has done?
