South Sydney are preparing to offer Wayne Bennett a three-year deal as early as next week as the veteran coach weighs up a return to the Rabbitohs.
It comes as Parramatta held a scheduled board meeting on Wednesday night at which it was decided not to follow up on approaches from third parties allegedly acting on behalf of Bennett.
Sources with knowledge of the situation, who requested anonymity in order to speak freely, told the Herald the Eels had been made aware that Bennett had interest in exploring the possibility of joining Parramatta if they moved on from coach Brad Arthur.
The Eels, however, won’t rush into a decision on Arthur’s future despite the Rabbitohs pushing hard for Bennett’s services after terminating the contract of Jason Demetriou on Tuesday.
Parramatta powerbrokers are conscious of the injury predicament that has hampered Arthur’s ability to get the best out of his football team, with Mitchell Moses’ long-term foot injury this week compounded by a knee injury to skipper Clint Gutherson. Eels chairman Sean McElduff declined to comment.
The Eels board want to give Arthur more time to prove he can dig the club out of the hole it currently finds itself in and won’t be pressured into a decision by South Sydney’s urgency to appoint a new coach.
The Rabbitohs are having internal discussions about Bennett’s return to the club and are willing to give him the three-year deal he has indicated he desires.
Sources told the Herald that the Rabbitohs board and owners have endorsed the pursuit of Bennett.
In his previous stint at South Sydney, former head of football Shane Richardson secured Bennett’s services knowing his assistant Jason Demetriou would take over after three seasons. The club made two preliminary finals and one grand final in those three seasons before he left the club.
Sources with knowledge of the situation said Bennett does not want to be restricted, as has been the case in his last two deals with South Sydney and the Dolphins, and wants a minimum three-year deal. The Rabbitohs are open to such a deal.
South Sydney have also shut down any chance of luring Bennett back to the club immediately in a bid to keep their faint finals hopes alive.
Bennett is the short-priced favourite to return for a second stint at Souths, with the club hopeful they can broker a deal in the next fortnight.
The Dolphins already have Bennett’s successor, Kristian Woolf, at the club, while an early exit for Bennett would allow him to start rebuilding the roster.
But Souths do not have the money in their $5.5m football department cap to accommodate Bennett this year – they just paid out $375,000 to Jason Demetriou – and are mindful not to undo all the hard work the Dolphins have done in establishing themselves in the top grade.
“We just won’t do it because we have too much respect for [chief executive] Terry Reader and the team at the Dolphins and what they’ve achieved the past few years – they’ve worked so hard to get to where they are now,” Souths chief executive Blake Solly said.
“We’re not that sort of club. We plan to sign a new coach, and we hope it is a matter of weeks rather than months … but it will be for next year.
“We’re more than happy with Ben and the coaching group we have for the remainder of this year.”
Sydney Roosters coach Trent Robinson welcomed the return of Bennett to the club’s arch rivals.
“It’s always good for the game to have Wayne coaching, the legend that he is, and I think it sounds like it’s already been done, doesn’t it? If Wayne says it’s, it’s done - I think that’s how it works,” Robinson said.
“I think they’ve rolled out the red carpet and said, ‘please say yes’, so I think if that’s the case then if Wayne wants it, and it was a great rivalry a few years ago. He’s the best coach that’s ever been, so it’s a pretty clear choice of his if he wants it.”
Replies
They won't care unfortunately unless there bombarded tomorrow with hundreds of email's
I am a rusted on BA fan, every time someone say's we need to sack him ( and there have been plenty), i will always defend him, i love how he man manages players almost better than anyone, he doesnt always have the best game plan but knows how to get the best out of most players & improves most players after they come here. i will also always ask those calling for his head, "who out there is better, no use getting rid of a good coach for another mediocre coach"
Well, now we had the chance to sign someone better, IF this story is true & we have given the "thanks but no thanks" to Bennett, then this is the ABSOLUTE WORST decision in the history of Parra
I am a pretty optimistic guy so i am still hoping that maybe, JUST MAYBE, we are publicly saying this out of respect to BA & as we all know, Bennett has reneged on deals before when they have been made public but behind the scenes, the board are still doing everything they can to get him here
As the Bunnies take the field full of confidence at the thought of Bennett returning I hope your right... but my optimism is wearing thin. And if the Parra board have fucked up this opportunity then after 48 years supporting this club I'm through... for a while anyway.
The Bunnies are jumping like, well, rabbits at the thought of Bennett coming back as they are about to take the field to take on the Panthers. Next round the Parra team will be a dead team walking... Our administration is fucked in the head if they at least didn't try to get Bennett!!!
12 years of BA poor coaching performances!
KICK HIM OUT!!
Oh ffs
That'll do me ...maybe the two new NRL board members needed a report submitted in triplicate before deciding anything.
https://www.parraeels.com.au/news/2024/05/02/board-update-may-2024/
Interesting, I wonder if these two were pushing for a coaching change and got push back making them feel like their role was untenable.
Yep didn't want their names aligned with such shitfuckery
We can only hope it's the opposite and these two wanted to stay the current course and lost the battle, if not this club is in for a sustained period of failure.
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