With Wayne Bennett coaching his last game for South Sydney in Sunday’s Grand Final loss to Penrith, the question on everyone’s mind is where he’ll end up next.
Citing a desire to move back to Brisbane in leaving his role with the Rabbitohs, The Daily Telegraph’s Michael Carayannis believes it’s a given that he’ll lead the NRL’s 17th side which is set to be announced this week.
With Carayannis understanding that the Redcliffe Dolphins will be chosen as Brisbane’s second franchise, he says that Bennett would have “already had discussions” with club powerbrokers to take over when they enter the league in 2023.
“I think Wayne’s already had discussions with Redcliffe,” Carayannis said on SEN 1170 Breakfast.
“Amongst the two other potential bidders, it will be Redcliffe, once expansion gets the green light this week it’ll be the Redcliffe Dolphins.
“You’ll find that Wayne Bennett will be the coach, it’ll be interesting to see what he does next season.”
Without a head coaching role in 2022, Carayannis believes Bennett could juggle a mentoring role with the Rabbitohs alongside helping set up the Dolphins for their admission to the league the following year.
“He’ll spend time piecing together that squad, but I think the Rabbitohs might be open to the prospect keeping Wayne at the club for another 12 months until he steps into another full-time day-to-day role,” Carayannis said.
“He could be there as an official mentor and leadership coach to Jason Demetriou and the rest of the coaching staff.
“Wayne could have two roles next season and not coach an NRL club.”
It is believed that NRL expansion will be confirmed this week by the competition.