With the news that South Sydney Rabbitohs have sacked head coach Jason Demetriou, a new favourite for the job has emerged with ex-England boss Wayne Bennett being touted to return to the club he led to the 2021 Grand Final.
Demetriou’s position as head coach was becoming more and more uncertain with suggestions that he would be sacked ahead of their recent bye with Australian head coach Mal Meninga set to take over.
However, the ex-Wakefield Trinity player was given a stay of execution with Meninga seemingly knocking back the job. That only saved Demetriou’s skin for one more week though with the Anzac Day defeat to Cronulla being the final straw.
South Sydney confirmed his dismissal earlier today with a statement released on their website that indicated that Ben Hornby will take over as interim head coach until the end of the season.
It’s that appointment of Hornby that has triggered plenty of speculation that Wayne Bennett will return to the Bunnies though, with James Graham one of those stoking the fire.
Wayne Bennett to make South Sydney return?
Credit: Swpix
Former England and Great Britain coach Wayne Bennett left South Sydney at the end of the 2021 season, a campaign that almost ended in fairytale fashion with the Bunnies narrowly defeated in the Grand Final 14-12 against Penrith Panthers.
That was Bennett’s 10th Grand Final but he wasn’t done in the coaching game, instead opting to take over at the NRL’s newly-founded 17th club The Dolphins. Bennett will leave the Redcliffe club at the end of the season with ex-St Helens boss Kristian Woolf taking over.
The Kristian Woolf link is another that has triggered Graham, fellow pundit Braith Anasta and leading journalist Phil Rothfield to declare Bennett as the favourite for the job.
Speaking on Fox League’s NRL 360 show, Rothfield said: “I don’t have confirmation that this stage that a deal has been done with Wayne Bennett.
“But rest assured, he’s their number one target. They will do everything they possibly can in the very near future to get him back on board at the Rabbitohs next year.”
Lewis Dodd’s arrival the biggest pointer to a Bennett appointment
Credit: Imago Images
It was reported earlier this week that St Helens’ Lewis Dodd would be heading to South Sydney for 2025, a decision that would likely be signed off on by a head coach. For that reason, Braith Anasta and James Graham have hinted that Demetriou’s fate had already been decided and that Bennett perhaps already tapped up.
Anasta said: “I have a feeling that the signing of Dodd could be linked to Wayne.
“I don’t think they would have made a call as big as this without knowing who the head coach was going to be.
“I think with Wayne’s ties with the Super League and the English rugby league, and Dodd playing underneath his assistant at the moment.”
To that point, James Graham noted: “Kristian Woolf is at the Dolphins and he brought Dodd onto the scene,” Graham said.
“Anybody that has signed Lewis Dodd would have spoke to Kristian Woolf. It is a matter of fact he brought him through and he speaks very highly of him.
“He won him a couple of competitions over there and he absolutely loves this kid. I think if it hadn’t have been for Katoa, the Dolphins would have gone after him.
“On the potential coach coming in Ben Hornby, you connect the dots and he was coached by Wayne Bennett in 2010 at the Dragons when they won a premiership, so that line of communication is open, which adds to that story.”
It would be an epic return with Bennett being one of the sport’s most iconic coaches having led each of the tier one nations whilst also racking up over 900 NRL games.
