Jon Bennison keeps his feet on the ground as Grand Final awaits
JON Bennison could be a Grand Final winner in his first season of regular rugby league – even then he will not think he has made it.
St Helens’ young back scored the try that booked their Old Trafford place as they look to go for an unprecedented four titles in a row.
Wild celebrations followed but that belied a level-headed teenager in no doubt of where he stands in the grand scheme of things, even if he helps his side defeat Leeds.
Bennison, 19, said: “I feel like I’ve not really earned or deserve any recognition yet.
“I definitely still have to earn my stripes and I’m a long way off the regulars in the team. Even if it goes well, I won’t feel I’ve earned them, definitely not.
“There have been many players who’ve had success and not carried it on. The best players don’t have one good year, they have 10.
“It felt like my try sealed the semi-final at the time but we still had 10 minutes left, so I couldn’t really enjoy it fully.
“But my emotions got the better of me in the end – it was about 10 seconds of pure emotion, then you saw me get straight back to it. Straight-faced again.
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“It’s very easy to keep that straight face because of the people that were around me, people who’d seen it all before. You could see them barking instructions straight after, they knew what it was all about.
“They quickly brought me back to reality.”
Bennison only expected to play ‘a handful of matches at most’ this season but injuries meant he has become a mainstay of Kristian Woolf’s side, even though he suffered a fractured cheekbone.
Now he gets to help James Roby go for yet another title in his 19th season – his team-mate was just four-months-old when the hooker made his debut.
And it does get mentioned in training when the 36-year-old shows the effect of matches – some younger players were not even born when he started playing.
Former Widnes season ticket holder Bennison added: “Robes made his debut in March 2003, I’d have been four-months-old.
“He gets away with it on that score with me but lads who debuted in the Castleford game and played against Wakefield weren’t even alive!
“You wouldn’t know it given the way he plays and trains, so it doesn’t get mentioned much – just when he comes in in the morning stiff as anything.
“James and the likes of Jonny Lomax and Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook have helped. I know they’ve got confidence in me, which helps me play better.
“Having that makes me feel on top of the world sometimes, knowing such great players and people who’ve won everything have confidence in me.
“And for me, sometimes a bit of adversity like my cheekbone doesn’t really go amiss, it builds character and makes moments like this even sweeter.”