Freshly-inducted Hall of Famer Sam Burgess delivered a touching, and humorous, speech on behalf of Wayne Bennett after the master coach opted not to attend Wednesday night’s induction ceremony. Bennett was named member No.136 in the Hall of Fame, becoming only one of two coaches to be inducted alongside the legendary Jack Gibson.
In his absence, Burgess, who won a premiership under the Bennett in 2014, was called upon to collect the awards on his former coach’s behalf before Ron Coote was named the 14th Immortal. While Bennett’s reasons for not attending the ceremony are not clear, Burgess — currently coach of the Warrington Wolves — flew the 17,000km from England to attend the event, where he was inducted as a player, before travelling back for a clash against Castleford on Saturday AEST. After Bennett’s induction, Yvonne Sampson said “you’re back up Sam, speaking on behalf of Wayne Bennett” before Burgess jumped in with a cheeky dig.
“I don’t have to say too much, he never does,” he said as the crowd burst out in laughter. Sampson then responded: “Just one word answers will be fine”. When asked why Bennett wasn’t in attendance, Burgess delivered a classy response “I’m not sure, I think he obviously has got a bit on Wayne.
It’s not his style as well,” Burgess said. “But I think majority of the people in this room would have been touched by Wayne in some way or another. “Maybe as a friend, as a coach, he has influenced so many people .