It’s no coincidence that of exactly 100 coaches to have opposed Wayne Bennett in the NRL, Craig Bellamy has had far and away the most success against him.

Bennett’s coaching record shows those who know him best have inflicted the most pain on one of the sport’s greatest mentors.

Former assistants Ivan Henjak and Steve Price are among the select group of 17 to have a winning record over him, as are his Broncos predecessor Anthony Griffin and his former Canberra players Mal Meninga and Bellamy.

And few know Bennett better than Bellamy.

After he played under him in Bennett’s first year as a top-flight coach in Canberra in 1987, it was the eventual Brisbane mentor who gave him his first chance as a coach in 1998.

Bennett, knowing Bellamy’s work ethic, first offered the former Canberra utility a role as Brisbane’s trainer in the pre-season of 1998.

That quickly developed into an assistant coaching role, where Bellamy drove revolutionary performance analysis and provided video and notes on opposition teams as Brisbane won the premiership.

But it wasn’t until 2002 that Bellamy was truly noticed. With Bennett away in Queensland State of Origin camp, the assistant took six debutants to a famous “Baby Broncos” win over the Wests Tigers.

It was widely thought at that stage Bellamy was being groomed by Bennett to be his eventual successor at Brisbane. But that Campbelltown performance turned heads and it wasn’t long before Melbourne came knocking.

The rest of Bellamy’s story is written in the history books as the coach of the most dominant team of the NRL-era.

A four-time Dally M coach of the year, Bellamy’s 23 wins from 33 games against Bennett – at a strike rate of 69.7 per cent – is unmatched.

Which means it’s little wonder Bennett still sees him as an ideal successor to his throne some 16 years after he left.

“He is one of the top coaches of the game and it is a huge club here,” Bennett said on Wednesday.

“You need a coach with the best profile you can get and have top coaching ability.”