Dolphins star Mark Nicholls insists Wayne Bennett’s favorite advice to his players is a LIE

Dolphins star Mark Nicholls has dispelled claims by Wayne Bennett that he willfully ignores media coverage of the sport as complete myth.

For more than a decade, the veteran coach has maintained that he carefully avoids newspaper articles and television news coverage of the code and has urged his players to do the same.

But Nicholls, who played with the 73-year-old in South Sydney and joined him at the Dolphins this season, revealed that Bennett rarely took his own advice.

“One of my favorite things at Souths, Wayne would always tell us that he wouldn’t read the paper or listen to the media,” he told Triple M Breakfast on Tuesday.

‘Someone got a picture of him at the local fish and chip shop reading the paper, one of the guys put it up at the team meeting and the guys loved it.

But Dolphins mainstay Mark Nicholls has revealed that Bennett’s approach may not be as simple as it seems, with the super-coach keeping a close eye on newspapers and TV reports.

“So if he tells you he doesn’t listen to the media or read the newspaper, he’s lying.”

Bennett has scorned the media, insisting that he deliberately avoided their NRL coverage.

I don’t read anything from you [the media] write more’, he said in 2016.

I haven’t done it in over a decade. I watch TV shows but when some rugby league comes on I turn it off.

Bennett doubled down on his approach two years later when he told Payne Haas to “make sure you don’t read what you [the media] write’ after the accessory burst onto the scene for the Broncos.

The seven-time premiership winner may not heed his own advice when it comes to ignoring the media, but he appears to have lost none of his magic on the pitch.

Targeted for the wooden spoon at the start of the season, the Dolphins joined the Broncos and Storm as the only expansion team in NRL history to start their inaugural campaign with three consecutive wins.

But the Dolphins’ hopes of maintaining their perfect start to the season were dealt a major blow on Tuesday when the NRL’s judicial system suspended Felise Kaufusi for four games.

The former Storm enforcer was convicted of sin and was denounced during the Dolphins’ win against Newcastle in round 3 for a late strike on Jackson Hastings.

Bennett has gone out of his way to tell his players to avoid media coverage.

Had the Queenslander accepted the early declaration, he would have missed just three games, but will now have to sit out the top-of-the-table clash against the Broncos on Friday night, as well as games against St George Illawarra, North Queensland and South Sydney.

“Not at all,” Kaufusi said when asked if his reputation had influenced the panel’s verdict.

‘It will take some time for this to settle, I am quite disappointed with the verdict.

“I thought we had good reason to fight the downgrade, but I guess the panel didn’t see it that way.”