South Sydney coach Wayne Bennett has reportedly held talks with NRL expansion hopefuls the Brisbane Jets, who plan to lure the supercoach back to Queensland.
Should the Jets edge out the Redcliffe Dolphins and Brisbane Firehawks for the league's 17th license, they would join the NRL for the 2023 season, and are already looking to sign their first major coup.
Jets shareholder Steve Johnson toldย The Courier Mailย that the club had contacted Bennett in hopes of landing the mastermind mentor should they be the NRL newest side.
โI have reached out to Wayne โฆ weโve had talks,โ Jets consortium figurehead Steve Johnson said.
โWayne is still keen to coach on so, yes, we would look at him as our head coach for 2023.
โPeople wanted to see icons play week in, week out and we want to do the same.โ #NRLhttps://t.co/MBSxZS4Tyx
— ZeroTackle.com (@zerotackle) February 24, 2021
โHe has to talk to South Sydney about his future plans. They are keen for him to stay on in another role (after this season), but weโre hoping Wayne has a desire in coming back to Queensland.โ
The NRL is set to make a call on expansion in the coming months, with the Jets' bid given a major boost since the merger of the Brisbane Bombers and Ipswich (Western Corridor).
Shareholder Nic Livermore said there was no candidate that could match the bid of the Jets following the merger.
โThe Bombers and Ipswich are moving together as one and this is the perfect model for the NRLโs 17th team,โ he toldย The Courier Mailย earlier this month.
โThereโs been a lot to work through but weโve found common ground and if the ARL Commission makes a call in June or July, weโre ready to go as Brisbaneโs second team.
โIf the ARL Commission looks at all the metrics around growth, participation, sustainability, financial security and creating a genuine derby with the Broncos without cannibalising the current NRL market, it will take a special bid to overtake this.
โThere is no other bid that will compete with the Brisbane Jets.โ
NRL expansion: Battle set to begin for new licence to become Brisbaneโs second team https://t.co/iOTkbK50vn via @dailytelegraph
— oethesaint (@oethesaint) February 25, 2021
The Jets remain hopeful that their Ipswich link will be key to satisfying Bennett's interest.
โWe believe we have great synergies with Wayne,โ Johnson added.
โA lot of people may not know this but Wayne started his coaching career in Ipswich.
โAside from his connection to Queensland, Wayne is one of our own with the Ipswich community.
โHe was born and raised in the western corridor, so if Wayne does become available to coach and we are lucky enough to win an NRL licence, we canโt think of a better person than Wayne Bennett to coach the Jets.
โHopefully, if we can clinch a licence, we can have some more meaningful dialogue.โ
Bennett is set to step aside from his position as head coach of the Rabbitohs at the end of this season, with assistant Jason Demetriou named as his successor.
