Wayne Bennett has moved to silence suggestions he could return to South Sydney next year as speculation grows over the master coach’s future in 2025.
Bennett is off-contract at the end of this season and there has been talk should Souths continue to struggle that he would be the logical replacement for Jason Demetriou.
The Rabbitohs’ win over the Bulldogs on Friday will reduce the pressure — at least for the time being — but it won’t stop questions being asked of Bennett and his future in the league next year.
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But when specifically asked if he had interest in potentially taking over Demetriou next year, Bennett wasn’t having any of it.
“Why? They’ve got a coach,” Bennett said.
“It is one of those hypotheticals. Every time there is a coach in trouble somewhere I am taking the club over.”
“I’ve been at three clubs already this year and this is only our third game,” Bennett added, laughing.
“Why don’t you be patient and see where it all goes?”
Bennett was also asked more generally about South Sydney’s winless start to the year, speaking before the Rabbitohs scrapped their way to a 20-16 victory over the Bulldogs on Friday.
“It’s football. It happens. You don’t know why sometimes, I don’t know why we played badly at Suncorp three weeks ago. It’s just what it is. You’ve just got to manage it,” Bennett said.
“I don’t want to talk about South Sydney. I’ve left South Sydney. It has got nothing to do with me.”
While Bennett didn’t want to comment too much on his former club he was willing to offer his thoughts on the NRL’s ongoing obstruction debate after a controversial ruling in Thursday’s game between Penrith and the Roosters.
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“I was concerned last week with one of them, I was concerned yesterday with one I saw last night,” Bennett said.
“It’s a bit of a concern. It can’t be black and white. If you look at last night’s, the referee has as much to do with it as anybody else, the position he found himself in. They won’t talk about that but if you look at the vision the referee certainly had an impact on what happened there.
“I’m not blaming him for that, the position he found himself in. You just can’t have it black and white, you’ve got to have some flexibility.”
Source Agencies
