Most introverted I've coached: Bennett

By Brett Keeble
Updated July 25 2014 - 1:13am, first published July 24 2014 - 2:45pm
"Ffootball’s been the thing that’s held him together": Wayne Bennett on Darius Boyd. Photo: Max Mason-Hubers
"Ffootball’s been the thing that’s held him together": Wayne Bennett on Darius Boyd. Photo: Max Mason-Hubers
"‘I’m pleased for Darius that he’s recognised that he’s obviously got a problem": Wayne Bennett on Darius Boyd. Photo: Jonathan Carroll
"‘I’m pleased for Darius that he’s recognised that he’s obviously got a problem": Wayne Bennett on Darius Boyd. Photo: Jonathan Carroll

On the same day Darius Boyd checked himself into a Sydney mental health clinic seeking treatment for depression, Knights coach Wayne Bennett described the troubled Queenslander as the most introverted player he has ever coached.

Boyd, who will leave the Knights at the end of this season and has been tipped to follow Bennett to Brisbane, could have played his last game for Newcastle after his father-figure and only NRL coach said on Wednesday there was no certainty he would play again this year.

‘‘No idea at all. That’s not our priority,’’ Bennett said.

‘‘To be honest with you, he’s had a great love affair with football and maybe many times in his life, football’s been the thing that’s held him together.

‘‘But right now, football’s not the thing that’s holding him together. It’s his health, and he realises that, and football is secondary to everything else.’’

On yet another dramatic day in the most turbulent season in the club’s history, Bennett indicated Boyd had been deeply affected by Alex McKinnon’s career-ending spinal injury and described him as a caring teammate who had never been comfortable having a public profile.

After media reports surfaced Boyd was being investigated for an incident in which $1500 worth of damage was done to a room in a Hunter Valley resort he stayed at last Wednesday, the Knights issued a statement on Wednesday saying he had been admitted to a mental health facility suffering depression.

‘‘I’m pleased for Darius that he’s recognised that he’s obviously got a problem, it’s a self-admission one and he’s come to this conclusion himself, and he booked himself into rehab in Sydney this morning,’’ Bennett said after the team trained without the 27-year-old Queensland and Australian star.

Bennett said he had coached other introverted players but ‘‘probably not as deep as him’’.

Dressing room cameras captured Boyd crying at half-time of a game against the Roosters early in his first season at the Knights, supposedly frustrated by his and the team’s modest form.

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