Wayne Bennett lashed the Brisbane Broncos, saying his former club undermined him in his pursuit for the South Sydney job, after guiding the Rabbitohs to their second grand final in eight years.
South Sydney became the first team through to the 2021 decider with a 36-16 win over Manly but the focus shifted to Bennett’s ugly exit from the Broncos after the master coach qualified for his tenth grand final.
Sitting next to captain Adam Reynolds, who will join Brisbane next season, Bennett spent 15 minutes with the media after full-time and couldn’t help taking a shot at his old club.
The 71-year-old said the Broncos “undermined” him during his split from Red Hill to join Souths at the end of 2018.
“I will say publicly that they [Brisbane] undermined me in the conversations with Souths,” Bennett said.
“So they didn’t do a little job on me they did the best possible job they could have done on me.
“But to Souths’ credit there were some people there that had worked with me before and they were happy to bite the bullet and give me the opportunity.
“I owe Russell Crowe [Rabbitohs co-owner] and hopefully tonight there is some repayment in what the team has done that means so much to him.
“And the chairman Nick Pappas as well has been wonderful and all the board so I have had tremendous support there and it has been refreshing to be honest.
“The last three years have been as refreshing a three years as I have had in coaching for a long time.”
Bennett, who is famous for his short and sharp press conferences, was asked if he felt vindication because the Broncos thought he was washed up.
“They felt a lot of things,” Bennett said.
“I wasn’t listening to them because I have spent a lifetime being honest with myself and if I thought I was washed up as a coach I wouldn’t coach another day because I would let too many people down.
“And I’ll determine that. No one is going to determine that for me. So nothing has changed for me.
“If I want to coach I will look to coach and make a contribution. I learned that as a young coach about when you should retire and when you shouldn’t retire because I worked with a coach that didn’t have the ambition anymore and the passion for it.
“But I’m not at that stage.”
If Bennett can claim another grand final win – it would be his eighth – and would make him the first coach since Tim Sheens in 2005 to do so after being sacked by their previous club.
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