A furious Wayne Bennett has hit out at the Penrith Panthers over their “use of blockers” to protect superstar halfback Nathan Cleary.
Bennett’s fiery response comes after a report by The Sydney Morning Herald, which claims Penrith has approached the NRL to see whether match officials could step in to stop an “illegal South Sydney ambush” occurring on Cleary when the two sides face off tomorrow night.
It’s understood Penrith’s concerns were raised after South Sydney complained to the NRL over Penrith’s use of illegal blockers during their Round 23 clash to give Cleary extra time to put up his floating bombs.
While the Penrith coach defended Cleary by suggesting that his halfback never receives any penalties for “unnecessary contact” after kicking, Bennett gave a ferocious reply.
The Rabbitohs coach claimed his side has struggled to put pressure on the superstar playmaker due to Rabbitohs’ kick chasers “getting blocked by illegal blockers”.
“There’s certainly an issue there, an issue for the game, not only South Sydney,” Bennett told the media in his press conference today.
“The issue is the use of blockers last time we played Penrith, and it’s happened before. It happened in State of Origin involving their players as well last year when I coached.
“They’re setting up blocks. The bottom line is we haven’t been able to get near Nathan and his kicks because we’re getting blocked.
“Our kick chases are getting blocked by illegal blockers. I’ve asked for some direction from the NRL in recent times as to what our position was and what was allowed and what wasn’t allowed.
“There’s no doubt it’s illegal what they do. You need to go look at the vision, it’s there for all to see.
“They didn’t get close to Nathan. You’re allowed to have blockers in the game but not illegal. They’re interfering with our line.
“They’re either moving forward, backward or sideways to block that player from getting to the kicker.
“He [Cleary] was untouched in that [round 23] game. It’s been going on for a while and the game needs to address it, now that we’ve made it public.”
The South Sydney coach made it clear that he believes Penrith’s use of blockers is a result of regular practice.
“I’m not suggesting they cheat, I’m just saying they practice it at training,” he added.
“They might not see it as cheating, I don’t know, you will have to ask them that question, but they’d be lying if they said they don’t practice it.
“You see the players going to position, you know it’s a trained thing. You see how the players respond to when the kick is about to come on the fifth and last tackle.
“It just doesn’t happen by coincidence.”
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