The Rabbitohs are set to offer Wayne Bennett a three year deal amid reports the master coach has sounded out the Parramatta Eels about a potential position should Brad Arthur be sacked.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported Souths want Bennett back on a three-year contract from 2025, but that Bennett had interest in the Eels job if it became available.
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However, a scheduled Eels board meeting was held on Wednesday night, where the club reportedly decided not to follow up on approaches from third parties acting on Bennett’s behalf.
The Eels are reluctant to rush a decision on Arthur’s future to enter a bidding war with Souths for Bennett after Jason Demetriou’s sacking on Tuesday.
Eels powerbrokers concede injuries have played a large part in Parramatta’s dismal season to date, most notably the loss of their halfback Mitchell Moses and now skipper Clint Gutherson for long stretches.
Eels chairman Sean McElduff declined to comment.
Parramatta want to give Arthur, who is off-contract in 2024, more time to prove he can get the Eels back on track when some of their big guns return.
However, Souths’ urgency to sign a new coach and in particular Bennett means the Eels run the risk of missing out on the seven time premiership winner, while they wait for Arthur to improve the team’s results.
The Souths’ board has reportedly endorsed the pursuit of a reunion with Bennett, who coached the team from 2019 to the 2021 Grand Final, which included two preliminary finals in his three year stint.
Bennett does not want to be restricted like he has been on his last two deals with Souths and the Dolphins and wants a minimum of three years to chase an eighth premiership, with the Rabbitohs open to such a contract.
Souths won’t target Bennett to come early for 2024 in a desperate bid to make the finals.
The Dolphins have assistant Kristian Woolf as a coach in waiting and it remains to be seen if they would let Bennett leave early.
However, Souths paid out Demetriou to the tune of $375,000 and don’t have money in their $5.5 million football department cap to lure Bennett mid-season.
“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.”
Originally published as Wayne Bennett’s shock bid for Eels job as Souths make move