By STEVE GRAY
IF YOU reckon Wayne Bennett is just an unsmiling football coach with veins of ice, think again.
Mr Bennett, as Rugby League’s longest-serving and most successful coach, is a brilliant manager of young men, training them in life skills, not just football skills.
His life has never been easy, but Mr Bennett has turned that personal experience into wisdom for all who listen.
Stanthorpe will have its chance to hear the great life coach tomorrow, 11 October, when he speaks at St Joseph’s school.
Mr Bennett visited Granite Belt Support Services (GBSS) last December and promised to return for a fund-raiser for the disabilities support group.
“He actually said to me ‘I can come up and do a fund-raiser because I know how hard it is for rural support services’,” said GBSS director Therese Crisp.
“I said we couldn’t afford it and he said he’d do it for nothing.”
Ms Crisp thought it would never happen because he was such a busy man, but in January it was Mr Bennett who called back and asked for a date.
The dinner, at which Mr Bennett will talk about “The Man in the Mirror”, is sold out and there is a waiting list, Ms Crisp said.
She said there had been outstanding support from the Granite Belt community for the $60 a head dinner, including staff for the night, entertainment and donations for an auction.
