Maybe Wayne Bennett fears retirement and joining that “mass of men” whom American philosopher Henry David Thoreau wrote “lead lives of quiet desperation”.

After all, Bennett’s 2007 book, written with Steve Crawley is titled, Don’t Die With The Music In You, a quote taken from American polymath Oliver Wendell Holmes, a 19th-century contemporary of Thoreau.

It’s the fear of a life of emptiness that drives many long-term coaches, a nagging angst at the loss of a creative future. Craig Bellamy put it simply when explaining why he would coach into a 22nd successive season at the Storm, saying, “I’m not sure what else I would do when I retire.”

On Friday, he........

© The Sydney Morning Herald