Is Henjak the right man for the Broncos?

Ivan Henjak stepped into the biggest shoes in the history of coaching in the NRL, possibly the world. The man he had to replace was Wayne Bennett, a god amongst men when it comes to coaching as far as I'm concerned. I might be slightly biased given he was in charge during all six premierships the Broncos have won. There's no doubting that he, along with Jack Gibson, is one of the greatest coaches to ever exist. Can any man replace Bennett? Probably not. Is Henjak the man to lead the Broncos into the next decade? No.

Henjak, a former player for Canberra, served his apprenticeship under Bennett for a solid 15 years. Obviously he would learned a few tricks of the trade over that time and had the privilege of working with some great players over those years. Since taking over the reigns, there really hasn't been much to be impressed about the way Ivan's been steering the ship. Jim highlighted midseason that there were a few decisions that were questionable to say the least - dropping Te'o and Winterstein for being late to training is a prime example. The main one for me is the lack of a solid consistent defence through large portions of the year and quite frankly, the Broncos seem uninspired to put it all on the line. One of the Bennett's key attributes is being able to get the best out of a man and Henjak just doesn't have that quality.

So if Henjak isn't the man, who is? One named that has be thrown around in the media has been Ricky Stuart. I used to hate his guts personally - nothing gave me greater joy than when 50,000 people at Suncorp booed his name when they were announcing the Australia vs. England teams a few years ago. Since he went to the Sharks, I've seen a different side to Sticky. He's just a bloke who got stuck with a really awful setup at Cronulla. That being said, he's not the guy we need.

That man, if interested, would be John Lang. He's confirmed that he'll be moving on at the end of the 2011 season and Henjak's contract ends in 2012 (which means compensation should this occur). Lang is a proven coach who took Penrith, who were a team of relative nobodies mind you, to the premiership in 2003 and while coaching the Sharks, they had their best years under him. He provides a level of maturity and composure that would suit the Broncos, given our young playing roster, quite well.

The Broncos need a sturdy skipper at the helm of the ship and Lang is the man that can provide that.