South Sydney are expected to announce during Magic Round next week the signing of Wayne Bennett as their coach, and this time they won’t put a time frame on when he finishes at the club.
Bennett and Souths will continue negotiations this weekend, and an outcome is expected in the coming days. The move effectively rules out any chance of Parramatta, who are committed to embattled coach Brad Arthur, sneaking under the guard of the Rabbitohs.
Bennett will be 75 in January, but has no inclination to retire. His last stint at Souths was for a finite period of three years, after agreeing to a transition plan that resulted in Jason Demetriou succeeding him.
Sources with knowledge of the situation, speaking on the condition of anonymity due the sensitivity of the negotiations, said co-owner Russell Crowe was keen for Bennett to keep coaching, but eventually replaced him due to the agreed handover.
However, there will be no end date placed on Bennett’s second coming. The parties are open to continuing for as long as they are happy with the arrangement.
The stocks of the seven-time premiership-winning mentor continue to rise after steering the Dolphins into the top four, a spot consolidated after Thursday night’s win over Manly. That result was achieved despite a bulging injury ward that includes Hamiso Tabuai-Fidow, Tom Flegler, Tom Gilbert and Tesi Niu.
Wayne Bennett is set to return to South Sydney with no end date placed on his second coming at the club.Credit: Getty
Bennett’s decision to return to the Rabbitohs is an indication he believes he can get the best out of stars Latrell Mitchell, Cody Walker and Damien Cook, who have struggled for form and confidence at times during his absence.
There has been a cloud over the long-term future of Arthur at Parramatta after a tough start to the season, which continued with Friday’s night’s loss to the Broncos. There has been speculation that Bennett may stretch out negotiations with South Sydney in a bid to leverage a potential move to the blue and golds, however negotiations with the Rabbitohs appear too far down the track for that to happen.
Unless talks go awry, Bennett will be in charge of Souths and an official announcement could be just days away. The Dolphins were initially keen to keep Bennett on in an off-field role when Kristian Woolf takes over as head coach from 2025, but the NRL’s newest club is now resigned to parting company at season’s end.
In a recent interview with this masthead, Bennett said clubs were too quick to pull the trigger on coaches after a run of losses.
“The easiest solution is not to appoint the wrong guy,” Bennett said. “Then you don’t have to go through the grief. It’s a tough job, tough on the clubs as well, they all want results. Only eight teams make the playoffs, another nine are going to miss out. We don’t have a tolerance any more if you don’t make it.
“The bottom line is if you have got someone as a coach and you know that as an administrator, then he’s worthwhile keeping. If you’ve got someone who can’t get the job done, then you make another decision. However, they seem to have trouble with that.”
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