2013 Super Bennie Westwood Testimonial Brochure

CURTIS JOBLING
Bennie Westwood has made visits to
my parents’ house unbearable. Via
a string of unsavoury nude images
adorning various charity calendars, he
can invariably be found hanging naked
from my mother’s fridge. I can’t get
near the Marmite without negotiating
Super Ben’s undercarriage. Just like
that loathsome yeasty paste, Bennie’s
a love-him-or-loathe-him character in
rugby league: loved by Wires, loathed
by the rest.
Super Ben’s the archetypal rugged
forward who never takes a backward
step. That could of course be because
his knees are on back-to-front. That
might sound unkind, but let me explain
myself.
He isn’t athletic-looking in the same
way as other players are.
Let’s have a look at Ryan Atkins - he
could give Usain Bolt a run for his
money, the lovechild of Freddie
Mercury and Shergar.
Now, let’s look at Super Ben. He’s all
arse and elbows, shoulder and shins,
yet somehow he wins every collision in
attack and defence. If ever a player ran
his blood to water for the cause, it has
to be our pan-faced warrior.
I first met Ben when he attended the
launch of my Wereworld novels at
Waterstone’s. During my talk to
audience I mentioned the hero of my
novel being a shepherd boy who loved
being surrounded by sheep. Ben’s ears
perked up - he can’t help it, it’s human
nature for a Yorkshireman. I asked
Yorkshire-born Ben to control himself
at mention of the sheep-loving - it
wasn’t that kind of book - and to his
credit he remained completely in
control, at least until all the children left
anyway.
Bennie Westwood’s
endeared himself to
Warrington in a way few
other players ever have.
The word ‘legend’ gets bandied about
a lot - like Bennie’s legs - but it’s
well-placed in this instance.
Man of Steel?
Man of Marmite and he’s all Wire!
MIKE PARSONS
BRAVEHEART Bennie Westwood’s
trademark courage was on display the
moment he signed for Warrington Wolves
in 2002.
We all know how he shirks nothing on the
field, but it is easy to forget the bravery
behind his decision to join the primrose and
blue army at a time when they were
being steered by their third coach in 10
months and staring down both barrels of a
relegation dogfight.
But the fresh-faced 20-year-old, signed by
David Plange as a matchwinning centre
from hometown club Wakefield Trinity
Wildcats, told Warrington Guardian: “I want
to play to the best of my ability, score a few
tries and help to keep Warrington in Super
League.”
It is difficult to contemplate that Warrington
Wolves might not be the boom-time Super
League club they are now if Simon Moran
had not forked out a club record Super
League transfer fee of £60,000 for a hot
prospect who was being tipped even then
for international rugby stardom.
Of course, it would be wrong to suggest
that he pulled off a rescue act on his own
when there was plenty of talent around him
and with Paul Cullen’s intervention as the
new head coach two months later
being crucial, but one of that season’s three
try-doubles from Bennie in the unlikeliest
of one-point wins away to Leeds Rhinos
points to some of his contribution in such
a dark and significant period of the club’s
history.
We know now that Bennie and the club
have not looked back since and what a
remarkable journey it has been with all the
league, cup and international success.
It has not all been plain sailing, with
Bennie having to work as hard at his own
game as the club have had to do with their
own rise to the top but the rewards have
been mindblowing with all the silverware of
the past few seasons. He was not always
able to find the consistency that he sought
in 2003 and 2004, often finding himself
switched to the wing as a finisher rather
than a creator.
The athleticism, dynamism, doggedness
and uncompromising soldiering were
always on show but it was when he
converted to a pack man in 2005 that his
qualities came into their own and the real
Bennie Westwood started to stand out.
He had always been attracted to the
gladiatorial side of the sport and now in
the heat of every battle as a loose forward
or second rower he could revel in it. That
was when we were first introduced to his
engine with no turn-off key as well as his
willingness to take on every challenge with
no concern for body preservation, whether
he was running with the ball or smashing
into opponents who had it.
In coach Paul Cullen and his right-hand
man Paul Darbyshire, Bennie had two ideal
tutors who understood the path he was on
and were perfectly placed to assist him,
both having made their own conversions
from centre to the back row with Warrington
to a great degree of success.
The additional fuel requirements,
role-specific training, the positioning, the
lines of running, the prolific and often
unnoticed work as a foil off the ball, and
the levels of communication would all have
been new to him.
As Bennie grew into the role, so
did his notoriety with opponents as
an aggressive hard-hitting grafter,
so powerful and awkward to tackle
and whose performance arguably
lifted again with attempts to ruffle
his feathers - it’s still like that now,
ask Leeds Rhinos’ Ryan Bailey who
was embarrassingly dumped on his
rear by a Bennie blockbuster in the
2012 Challenge Cup Final at
Wembley.
And yet, for all the rough-and-tough stuff
that makes Bennie loved by the
Warrington supporters and dreaded by
their counterparts, he has a graceful sleight
of hand from his days in the backline that
adds to his arsenal of weaponry. Very
few could have done the spadework and
provided that stunning last-gasp offload
for Tyrone McCarthy’s Wembley try last
August. To Bennie’s great credit and to
hopefully the benefit of Wolves in 2013
and England as well in World Cup year, he
continues to improve as a force with every
year that passes.
It summed up Bennie’s presence in the
Warrington team when Hull arrived at The
Halliwell Jones Stadium for the play-offs
eliminator last September. Pundits, fans’
forums and the media were alive to the
tune that the Humbersides stood a chance
of an upset because Bennie Westwood was
not playing.
The upset never came, of course, but such
respect in these parts only used to be reserved
for Lee Briers - and we all know the
influence he has had on Warrington Wolves
for the best part of 15 years.
27 SUPER BENNIE WESTWOOD 2012
PAGE 32 SUPER BENNIE WESTWOOD TESTIMONIAL 2012
12 11 12 SBW Testimonial Programme.indd 32 12/11/2012 11:20