RUGBY league supercoach Wayne Bennett has mentored some of the very best players over his 799 games in the top chair.

From Brisbane, St George Illawarra, and Newcastle, there’s some absolute stars who have been coached by Bennett.

Ahead of his 800th game as coach, Bennett sat down for an exclusive interview with Fox Sports’ commentator Michael Ennis to look back on his career.

Watch the full Wayne Bennett interview on Fox League at 7pm on Thursday.

Round 20

Here are 17 of Bennett’s all-time favourite players, in his own words.

WALLY LEWIS

He was the king. You look at a lot of the guys today — Cameron Smith and Johnathan Thurston, those guys — but in his era he was as great as anybody.

If they have the grand final of best ever players he’s got to be in it.

He had this aura, particularly at Origin level. The boys would say when he walked in the changeroom they all felt like they could beat anybody.

I coached him at the end of his career when he came to the Broncos, but at the height of his career he was a wonderful football player. Had all the skills, all the attributes and this great ability to inspire other players.

Wayne Bennett celebrating with players Greg Dowling and Wally Lewis. Source: News Limited

GENE MILES

One of those players that had lots of ability.

A very laid-back guy, but enjoyed his football, was great mates with Wally ... they were big signings for the Broncos. They could have decided to go to Manly but they wanted to be a part of the Brisbane Broncos which was the making of us.

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CHRIS JOHNS

I love Johnsy’s passion, he still has it. He has a great deal of passion for the team and for what he does.

He’s a Broncos player through and through.

KEVIN WALTERS & ALFIE LANGER

He played in seven premierships. A pretty remarkable record, he’s got.

He was a great halfback. He was a great offsider to Alfie as well and they were fun guys to be around.

Darren Lockyer and Wayne Bennett. Source: News Corp Australia

PETER JACKSON

I had a few issues with guys not training properly (at Brisbane) and Jacko just trained his heart out.

It didn’t matter how big a night he had on the drink, he just turned up the next day and trained his heart out.

I wanted him to show the other boys how hard they had to train if they wanted to play in Sydney, and he did that.

He changed a lot of attitudes at the club.

Watch the full Wayne Bennett interview on Fox League at 7pm on Thursday.

GLENN LAZARUS

He was our best ever buy I think at that time.

I couoldn’t believe how we pulled the deal off because he was such a big important role at Canberra.

He taught us how to go forward, he taught out forwards how to play good consistent footy for 80 minutes.

STEVE RENOUF

He’s a once in a lifetime player, the stuff he could do.

A magnificent player with a great body swerve, a great football sense.

Michael Hancock, Kevin Campion and Kevin Walters. Source: News Corp Australia

SHANE WEBCKE

He’s one of my all-time favourite players, I just loved what he brought.

He brought it to the training ground, he brought it on the ground, he never did anything other than his absolute best.

The only grievance I ever had with him was when he would go away with the Australian teams and found out how much money all the other players were getting, then he would come back and tell me I was underpaying him ... which I was.

He wouldn’t want to play anywhere else anyway.

He deserved his cash, he played his heart out.

GORDEN TALLIS

They nicknamed him the raging bull and it probably wasn’t a bad nickname for him.

He was a devastating player.

I ran into him at 18, we were playing a testimonial match for Greg Dowling and Gene Miles in Townsville, and this brash kid came up to me, his brother was playing at the time and he just looked me in the eye and said “you’ve got the wrong Tallis mate”.

He said “I’m so much better than my brother. I’m going to the Dragons and I’m going to prove to you how good I am”, and off he walked.

He made a great contribution with his aggression and ability to carry the footy like no one else could, and his ability to intimidate players.

Watch the full Wayne Bennett interview on Fox League at 7pm on Thursday.

MICHAEL DE VERE

He was just sheer determination, desire, commitment.

Brent Tate and Gorden Tallis. Source: News Limited

KEVIN CAMPION

He’s one of my favourites too. He was an under rated player.

He was in a team at the Broncos with a lot of good player but I just loved him, he always did his best.

He was always our best player in bad games because he was always doing his best.

SHAUN BERRIGAN

A great interchange player, could play a number of positions and was always doing his best, which as a coach that’s what you’re looking for.

He epitomised that, he was always doing his best.

DARREN LOCKYER

There’s many things I loved and I could spend a lot of time talking about Darren and Alfie, but one of the things I loved about him was he was a total team guy.

When I asked him to go from fullback to five-eighth he didn’t blink, he didn’t hesitate.

He was Australia’s fullback, he didn’t have any guarantees he was going to make it as a five-eighth, but he said if that’s what you want me to do coach then I’ll do it.

He copped a lot of criticism, I copped a lot of criticism, but we stuck true to what we believed he could do and he became a great player in two positions.

He’s one of the all-time great players.

People would come to watch him train from other parts of the world ... he was a magnificent athlete as well, he wasn’t just a great football player.

Darius Boyd talking with coach Wayne Bennett. Source: News Corp Australia

DARIUS BOYD

It’s been a unique relationship and I’ve valued it very much.

When he arrived at the Broncos there was a few people telling he couldn’t play but I just saw something in him.

He learnt off all the good players and he learnt good habits, and he applied them to himself.

DEAN YOUNG

I loved Dean Young. He’s his father’s son. One of those guys that didn’t know anything but his best.

He coached them for me on the field. I told them what to do and then he would get on the field and make sure they all did it.

He had one leg. No one realised he had one leg after he had done his cruciate and got infection in it.

He couldn’t train most weeks but he turned up on Sunday and would give his absolute best.

BEAU SCOTT

I asked Beau to come to Newcastle with me because I just knew what he brought, I loved what he brought.

He’s a genuine tough guy who cares about his teammates, he was a fun guy to be around.

He was a committed bloke who was always doing his best for you.

Watch the full Wayne Bennett interview on Fox League at 7pm on Thursday.